Once you fully apprehend the vacuity of a life without struggle, you are equipped with the basic means of salvation.

Jim lights a cigarette and leans indolently back on his elbow smiling at Laura with a warmth and charm which lights her inwardly with altar candles.

I cannot write any sort of story unless there is at least one character in it for whom I have physical desire.

Time doesn't take away from true friendship, nor does separation.

If I got rid of my demons, I’d lose my angels.

There is no pleasure in the world like writing well and going fast. It's like nothing else. It's like a love affair, it goes on and on, and doesn't end in marriage. It's all courtship.

The rest of my days I'm going to spend on the sea. And when I die, I'm going to die on the sea. You know what I shall die of? I shall die of eating an unwashed grape. One day out on the ocean I will die — with my hand in the hand of some nice-looking ship's doctor, a very young one with a small blond moustache and a big silver watch.