I don't trust a man who talks about ethics when he is picking my pocket. But if he is acting in his own self-interest and says so, I have usually been able to work out some way to do business with him.

I'm afraid of coaching, of writer's classes, of writer's magazines, of books on how to write. They give me centipede trouble - you know the yarn about the centipede who was asked how he managed all his feet? He tried to answer, stopped to think about it, and was never able to walk another step.

Being sorry won't get you into heaven. Get happy, son. Get that old spring into your step and stay on your toes.

Place your clothes and weapons where you can find them in the dark.

Nor would anybody suspect. If was one thing all people took for granted, was conviction that if you feed honest figures into a computer, honest figures come out. Never doubted it myself till I met a computer with a sense of humor.

Teaching causes people to go into situations from which they cannot escape, except by thinking. Do not handicap children by making their lives easy.

The most noble fate a man can endure is to place his own mortal body between his loved home and the war's desolation.