Gettysburg. . . . You cant understand it. You would have to be born there.

Riches is nothing in the face of the Lord, for He can see into the heart.

The writer's only responsibility is to his art. He will be completely ruthless if he is a good one. He has a dream. It anguishes him so much he must get rid of it. He has no peace until then. Everything goes by the board: honor, pride, decency, security, happiness, all, to get the book written. If a writer has to rob his mother, he will not hesitate; the 'Ode on a Grecian Urn' is worth any number of old ladies.

A writer is trying to create believable people in credible moving situations in the most moving way he can.

The poet's, the writer's, duty is to write about these things. It is his privilege to help man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past. The poet's voice need not merely be the record of man, it can be one of the props, the pillars to help him endure and prevail.

That's a very good way to learn the craft of writing - from reading.

An artist is completely amoral in that he will rob, beg, borrow, or steal from anybody and everybody to get the work done.