I have made three rules of writing for myself that are absolutes: Never take advice. Never show or discuss work in progress. Never answer a critic.

Television is just one more facet of that considerable segment of our society that never had any standard but the soft buck.

If you liked a book, don't meet the author

It was a blonde. A blonde to make a bishop kick a hole in a stained-glass window.

The minute you try to talk business with him he takes the attitude that he is a gentleman and a scholar, and the moment you try to approach him on the level of his moral integrity he starts to talk business.

Everything a writer learns about the art or craft of fiction takes just a little away from his need or desire to write at all. In the end he knows all the tricks and has nothing to say.

When in doubt, have a man come through the door with a gun in his hand.