A man who drinks too much on occasion is still the same man as he was sober. An alcoholic, a real alcoholic, is not the same man at all. You can't predict anything about him for sure except that he will be someone you never met before.

The modern film tries too hard to be real. Its techniques of illusion are so perfect that it requires no contribution from the audience but a mouthful of popcorn.

There are no vital and significant forms of art; there is only art, and precious little of that.

I had a funny feeling as I saw the house disappear, as though I had written a poem and it was very good and I had lost it and would never remember it again.

The moment a man begins to talk about technique that's proof that he is fresh out of ideas.

At least half the mystery novels published violate the law that the solution, once revealed, must seem to be inevitable.

I was as hollow and empty as the spaces between stars.