The making of a picture ought surely to be a rather fascinating adventure. It is not; it is an endless contention of tawdry egos, some of them powerful, almost all of them vociferous, and almost none of them capable of anything much more creative than credit-stealing and self-promotion.

I think a man ought to get drunk at least twice a year just on principle, so he won't let himself get snotty about it.

An artist cannot deny art, nor would he want to. A lover cannot deny love.

She bent over me again. Blood began to move around in me, like a prospective tenant looking over a house.

He looked about as inconspicuous as a tarantula on a slice of angel food.

A writer who is afraid to overreach himself is as useless as a general who is afraid to be wrong.

I hung up. It was a good start, but it didn’t go far enough. I ought to have locked the door and hidden under the desk.