Never demean yourself by talking back to a critic, never. Write those letters to the editor in your head, but don't put them on paper.

I know the next best thing is often the very best.

All literature is gossip.

It's worth your life to order an omelette in most restaurants. You never know what you're going to get.

The instant she saw the letter she squinted her eyes and bent her lips in a tough tiny smile that advanced her age immeasurably. "Darling," she instructed me, "would you reach in the drawer there and give me my purse. A girl doesn't read this sort of thing without her lipstick.

I've been working, working, working, and you know, sometimes you look back at your work and you see that it just isn't any good.

Don't wanna sleep, don't wanna die, just wanna go a-travellin' through the pastures of the sky