In a world that operates largely at random, coincidences are to be expected, but any one of them must always be mistrusted.

I don't answer questions containing two or more unsupported assumptions.

A Dickens character to me is a theatrical projection of a character. Not that it isn't real. It's real, but in that removed sense. But Sherlock Holmes is simply there. I would be astonished if I went to 221½ B Baker Street and didn't find him.

Hemingway never grew out of adolescence. His scope and depth stayed shallow because he had no idea what women are for.

Genius is fine for the ignition spark, but to get there someone has to see that the radiator doesn't leak and no tire is flat.

A character who is thought-out is not born, he or she is contrived. A born character is round, a thought-out character is flat.

[A] pessimist gets nothing but pleasant surprises, an optimist nothing but unpleasant.