The basic truth of all things, as nearly as we may ever dream of determining and knowing this truth, is form, that which is, as it is. The way and shape of the thing no less than the thing itself.

Yes, the idiot is indeed the good man, but only because he doesn't know any better.

San Francisco itself is art, above all literary art. Every block is a short story, every hill a novel. Every home a poem, every dweller within immortal. That is the whole truth.

I became a writer because during several of the most important years of my life, writing seemed to me to be the most unreal, unattractive, and unecessary idea ever imposed upon the human race.

The writer who is a real writer is a rebel who never stops.

The whole world and every human being in it is everybody's business.

I'm not the kind of guy to knock at a door and then when the door is opened not go in.