It is a great while since I felt the grind of bone under my saw,' he added, smiling with anticipation.

Wit is the unexpected copulation of ideas.

When you're taking a fence on a horse, you don't think much; your body does all the thinking, and you're over or you're not over. It's much the same when you are doing a tricky thing with a pen. There are times when I'm writing very, very fast.

I am opposed to authority, that egg of misery and oppression; I am opposed to it largely for what it does to those who exercise it.

We understood one another better before ever I opened my mouth

I sew his ears on from time to time, sure.

For me the process works best with no interruptions, no breaks in the steady application, no letters to be answered, very little social life, no holidays; it is therefore a form of happy imprisonment.