A piece of writing is a dangerous thing," he said. "It can change your life.

You felt it as a depth of ease in certain boys, their innate, affable assurance that they would not have to struggle for a place in the world; that is already reserved for them.

When we are green, still half-created, we believe that our dreams are rights, that the world is disposed to act in our best interests, and that falling and dying are for quitters. We live on the innocent and monstrous assurance that we alone, of all the people ever born, have a special arrangement whereby we will be allowed to stay green forever

Everything has to be pulling weight in a short story for it to be really of the first order.

The human heart is a dark forest.

To be a writer you need to see things as they are, and to see things as they are you need a certain basic innocence.

Most of us dont live lives that lend themselves to novelistic expression, because our lives are so fragmented.