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

I can remember how when I was young I believed death to be a phenomenon of the body; now I know it to be merely a function of the mind -- and that of the minds who suffer the bereavement. The nihilists say it is the end; the fundamentalists, the beginning; when in reality it is no more than a single tenant or family moving out of a tenement or a town.

To me, all human behavior is unpredictable and, considering man's frailty... and... the ramshackle universe he functions in, it's... all irrational.

An artist is a creature driven by demons. He don't know why they choose him and he's usually too busy to wonder why.

Writing a first draft is like trying to build a house in a strong wind.

I only write when I feel the inspiration. Fortunately, inspiration strikes at 10:00 o'clock every day.

The only environment the artist needs is whatever peace, whatever solitude, and whatever pleasure he can get at not too high a cost.