Writers who think THEY are being criticized when only that writing is being criticized are beyond a teacher's reach. Writing can only be learned when a writer coldly separates himself from what he has written and looks at it with the objectivity of a plumber examining a newly piped bathroom to see if he got all the joints tight.

Nobody becomes Tom Wolfe overnight, not even Tom Wolfe.

When you're ready to stop, stop. If you have presented all the facts and made the point you want to make, look for the nearest exit.

Never hesitate to imitate another writer - every person learning a craft or an art needs models. Eventually you'll find your own voice and will shed the skin of the writer you imitated.

Scholarship hath no fury like that of a language purist faced with sludge.

A simple [writing] style is the result of very hard work.

Memoir is the art of inventing the truth.