Most men are a little better than their circumstances give them a chance to be.

I do not rewrite unless I am absolutely sure that I can express the material better if I do rewrite it.

The aim of every artist is to arrest motion, which is life, by artificial means.

Men have been pacifists for every reason under the sun except to avoid danger and fighting.

The past is never dead. It's not even past.

The air brightened, the running shadow patches were now the obverse, and it seemed to him that the fact that the day was clearing was another cunning stroke on the part of the foe, the fresh battle toward which he was carrying ancient wounds.

All of us have failed to match our dream of perfection. I rate us on the basis of our splendid failure to do the impossible. If I could write all my work again, I'm convinced I could do it better. This is the healthiest condition for an artist. That's why he keeps working, trying again: he believes each time that this time he will do it, bring it off. Of course he won't.