I don't suppose anybody ever deliberately listens to a watch or a clock. You don't have to. You can be oblivious to the sound for a long while, then in a second of ticking it can create in the mind unbroken the long diminishing parade of time you didn't hear.

Every man has a different idea of what's beautiful, and it's best to take the gesture, the shadow of the branch, and let the mind create the tree.

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.

The writer in America isn't part of the culture of this country. He's like a fine dog. People like him around, but he's of no use.

Perhaps they were right putting love into books. Perhaps it could not live anywhere else.

Nothing can injure a man's writing if he's a first-rate writer. If a man is not a first-rate writer, there's not anything can help it much. The problem does not apply if he is not first rate because he has already sold his soul for a swimming pool.

The best fiction is far more true than any journalism.