People make a grievous error thinking that a list of facts is the truth. Facts are just the bare bones out of which truth is made.

I took five years on the first volume, five years on the second volume, and ten years on the third volume.

I don't want anything to do with anything mechanical between me and the paper, including a typewriter, and I don't even want a fountain pen between me and the paper.

And I really do think that the difficulty of research makes it more real to you than punching a thing to find out how many men were killed at this particular action.

If you want to study writing, read Dickens. That's how to study writing, or Faulkner, or D.H. Lawrence, or John Keats. They can teach you everything you need to know about writing.

I never cared what kind of grade I got.

Before the war it was always the United States *are*, after the war it was the United States is... it made us an is.