Sheep are stupid, and have to be driven. But goats are intelligent, and need to be led.

It takes forty men with their feet on the ground to keep one man with his head in the air.

The thing about stories is you have to pick the ones that last.

Mr. Tulip lived his life on that thin line most people occupy just before they haul off and hit someone repeatedly with a wrench.

Yes, but people have got to believe that, or what's the point MY POINT EXACTLY.

Writing, for me, is a little like wood carving. You find the lump of tree (the big central theme that gets you started), and you start cutting the shape that you think you want it to be. But you find, if you do it right, that the wood has a grain of its own (characters develop and present new insights, concentrated thinking about the story opens new avenues). If you're sensible, you work with the grain and, if you come across a knot hole, you incorporate that into the design. This is not the same as 'making it up as you go along'; it's a very careful process of control.

There's no such thing as writer's block. That was invented by people in California who couldn't write.