It takes a clever man to turn cynic and a wise man to be clever enough not to.

Some people think they are worth a lot of money just because they have it.

But suppose, asks the student of the professor, we follow all your structural rules for writing, what about that something else that brings the book alive? What is the formula for that? The formula for that is not included in the curriculum.

I'm not happy when I'm writing, but I'm more unhappy when I'm not.

Family. A snug kind of word.

Some authors have what amounts to a metaphysical approach. They admit to inspiration. Sudden and unaccountable urgencies to writecatapult them out of sleep and bed. For myself, I have never awakened to jot down an idea that was acceptable the following morning.

[Wishing her mother had named her Beulah:] At least you did not sit on your beulah.

A woman is not a whole woman without the experience of marriage. In the case of a bad marriage, you win if you lose. Of the two alternatives - bad marriage or none - I believe bad marriage would be better. It is a bitter experience and a high price to pay for fulfillment, but it is the better alternative.

The literary wiseacres prognosticate in many languages, as they have throughout so many centuries, setting the stage for new hautmonde in letters and making up the public's mind.

The maimed bodies aren't the worst. That's the easy way to hate war. The safe way. I - hate it just as much for the maimed souls that stay at home.

I would rather regret what I have done than what I have not.

Nervous hands as if the fingers were dripping from them like icicles.

Any work of art ... is great when it makes you feel that its creator has dipped into your very heart for his sensation.

There is no adequate definition for creative writing, any more than it is possible to describe pain or flavor or color.

Luscious feet that listened to the soil and stole its secrets.

Life owes me a living worth living. Yes, Eden regarded life as her debtor, she its relentless paymaster.