The wrongs of childhood and upbringing have made a large and obsessional contribution to autobiography and the novel.

How extraordinary it is that one feels most guilt about the sins one is unable to commit.

Like many popular best-sellers, he was a very sad and solemn man who took himself too seriously and his art not seriously enough.

A touch of science, even bogus science, gives an edge to the superstitious tale.

Some writers thrive on the contact with the commerce of success; others are corrupted by it. Perhaps, like losing one's virginity,it is not as bad (or as good) as one feared it was going to be.

Short stories can be rather stark and bare unless you put in the right details. Details make stories human, and the more human a story can be, the better.

It's all in the art. You get no credit for living.