To understand the world, you must first understand a place like Mississippi.

Memory believes before knowing remembers. Believes longer than recollects, longer than knowing even wonders.

The whiskey died away in time and was renewed and died again, but the street ran on. From that night the thousand streets ran as one street, with imperceptible corners and changes of scene.

You must always know the past, for there is no real Was, there is only Is.

The only rule I have is to quit while it’s still hot. Never write yourself out. Always quit when it’s going good. Then it’s easier to take it up again. If you exhaust yourself, then you’ll get into a dead spell and you’ll have trouble with it.

We could live like counts. ... If all that money is out there, I might as well hack a little on the side and put the novel off.

In writing, you must kill all your darlings.