Fourteen years in the professor dodge has taught me that one can argue ingeniously on behalf of any theory, applied to any piece of literature. This is rarely harmful, because normally no-one reads such essays.

There can never be any substitute for your own palate nor any better education than tasting the wine yourself.

You do the best you can and you deal with the consequences. It's all there is.

'All Our Yesterdays' was unquestionably the best work I have ever done. And the reading public stayed away in droves.

For David Parker and Daniel Parker, with the respect and admiration of their father, who grew up with them.

Yeah. Floyd is his batman." His what?" Batman, like in the British army, each officer had a batman, a personal servant." You spend too much time reading, Spenser. You know more stuff that don't make you money than anybody I know.

I had achieved the most important things in my life when I married Joan and had the sons. Given the choice between Joan and the boys, and being a writer, I world give up being a writer without a blink.