Good writing ... involves the agony of turning profoundly difficult thoughts into lucid form, then forcing them into the tight-fitting uniform of language, making them visible and clear.

I've never cackled with laughter at a single line I've ever written. None of it has given me pleasure.

Man wonders but God decides When to kill the Prince of Tides.

A story is a living thing, it moves and shifts.

Music could ache and hurt, that beautiful music was a place a suffering man could hide.

When I was 5 years old, my mother read me 'Gone With The Wind' at night, before I went to bed. I remember her reading almost all year.

I’ve never had anyone’s approval, so I’ve learned to live without it.