A conversation is a dialogue, not a monologue. That's why there are so few good conversations: due to scarcity, two intelligent talkers seldom meet.

It's redundant to die in Los Angeles.

Sometimes when I think how good my book can be, I can hardly breathe.

Those fellows, they're always crying over killers. Never a thought for the victims.

Since each story presents its own technical problems, obviously one can't generalize about them on a two-times-two-equals-four basis. Finding the right form for your story is simply to realize the most natural way of telling the story. The test of whether or not a writer has defined the natural shape of his story is just this: After reading it, can you imagine it differently, or does it silence your imagination and seem to you absolute and final? As an orange is final. As an orange is something nature has made just right.

I've never been a teacher in my life.

I remember things the way they should have been.