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I'll give you the whole secret to short story writing. Here it is. Rule 1: Write stories that please yourself. There is no Rule 2.

O. Henry

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O. Henry
Age: 47 †
Born: 1862
Born: September 11
Died: 1910
Died: June 5
Journalist
Writer
Greensboro
North Carolina
William Sydney Porter
Olivier Henry
Oliver Henry
Give
Insightful
Whole
Rule
Giving
Short
Writing
Please
Secret
Story
Write
Stories

More quotes by O. Henry

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There was clearly nothing to do but flop down on the shabby little couch and howl. So Della did it. Which instigates the moral reflection that life is made up of sobs, sniffles, and smiles, with sniffles predominating.
O. Henry
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A burglar who respects his art always takes his time before taking anything else.
O. Henry
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Whenever he saw a dollar in another man's hands he took it as a personal grudge, if he couldn't take it any other way.
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Bolivar cannot carry double
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When I see a shipwreck, I like to know what caused the disaster...I learned nothing but the glow that wrapped her face when the soup came. That's the story.
O. Henry
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All of us have to be prevaricators, hypocrites, and liars every day of our lives otherwise the social structure would fall into pieces the first day. We must act in one another's presence just as we must wear clothes. It is for the best
O. Henry
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Hospitality in the prairie country is not limited. Even if your enemy passes your way, you must feed him before you shoot him.
O. Henry
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Greenwich Village... the village of low rents and high arts.
O. Henry
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We can't buy one minute of time with cash if we could, rich people would live longer.
O. Henry
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Except in streetcars one should never be unnecessarily rude to a lady.
O. Henry
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A story with a moral appended is like the bill of a mosquito. It bores you, and then injects a stinging drop to irritate your conscience.
O. Henry
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Write what you like there is no other rule.
O. Henry
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History is bright and fiction dull with homely men who have charmed women.
O. Henry
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She plucked from my lapel the invisible strand of lint (the universal act of woman to proclaim ownership).
O. Henry
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Whenever my patient begins to count the carriages in her funeral procession I subtract 50 per cent from the curative power of medicines.
O. Henry
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By nature and doctrines I am addicted to the habit of discovering choice places wherein to feed.
O. Henry
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The lonesomest thing in all the world is a soul when it is making ready to go on its mysterious, far journey.
O. Henry
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Young artists must pave their way to Art by drawing pictures for magazine stories that young authors write to pave their way to Literature.
O. Henry
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Now, girls, if you want to observe a young man hustle out after a pick and shovel, just tell him that your heart is in some other fellow's grave. Young men are grave-robbers by nature.
O. Henry
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Women's weapon, water-drops.
O. Henry