The only obligation any artist can have is to himself. His work means nothing, otherwise. It has no meaning.

It may be normal, darling; but I'd rather be natural.

I've tried to believe, but I don't, I can't, and there's no use pretending.

What I do requires fantastic concentration... but you can't be totally alone, or you lose all contact with reality, so even when I'm engrossed and secluded, Jack Dunphy can be there. He's my oldest and best friend, and best critic too.

When the prisoner is brought down from Death Row he steps from the elevator directly into a "holding" room that adjoins the witness room. There are two cells in this "holding" room, two, in case it's a double execution. They're ordinary cells, just like this one, and the prisoner spends his last night there before his execu­tion in the morning, reading, listening to the radio, playing cards with the guards.

There is such an animal as a nonstylist, only they're not writers - they're typists.

The problem with living outside the law is that you no longer have its protection.