no knowledge obtained without risk

I’m convinced that fear is at the root of most bad writing. Dumbo got airborne with the help of a magic feather; you may feel the urge to grasp a passive verb or one of those nasty adverbs for the same reason. Just remember before you do that Dumbo didn’t need the feather; the magic was in him.

There’s always someone who knows something.

If God rewards us on earth for good deeds—the Old Testament suggests it’s so, and the Puritans certainly believed it—then maybe Satan rewards us for evil ones.

Description is what makes the reader a sensory participant in the story.

Life is like a wheel. Sooner or later, it always come around to where you started again.

the man in black travels with your soul in his pocket.