When I'm writing, I never write more than four hours a day.

Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.

Nancy Clutter is always in a hurry, but she always has time. And that's one definition of a lady.

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.

What we want most is to be held...and told..that everything (everything is a funny thing, is baby milk and papa's eyes, is roaring logs on a cold morning, is hoot owls and the boy who makes you cry after school, is mama's long hair, is being afraid and twisted faces on the bedroom wall)...is going to be alright.

The feeble-minded, the neurotic, the criminal, perhaps, also, the artist, have unpredictability and perverted innocence in common.

Intelligence alone can't make a good writer and style alone can't make a good writer - that is, not a really important or significant writer - but the two things together make a really good writer.