The impulse to perfection cannot exist where the definition of perfection is the arbitrary decision of authority. That which is born in loneliness and from the heart cannot be defended against the judgment of a committee of sycophants. The volatile essences which make literature cannot survive the clichés of a long series of story conferences.

Above all never forget that a marriage is in one way very much like a newspaper. It has to be made fresh every damn day of every damn year.

I like smooth shiny girls, hardboiled and loaded with sin.

You can't have everything, even in California

The wet air was as cold as the ashes of love.

If my books had been any worse, I should not have been invited to Hollywood, and if they had been any better, I should not have come.

The test of a writer is whether you want to read him again years after he should by the rules be dated.