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If you can't write a story that pleases yourself, you will never please the public. But in writing the story forget the public.

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
Stories
Writing
Pleases
Never
Please
Public
Forget
Story
Write

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.
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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.
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Bolivar cannot carry double
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She plucked from my lapel the invisible strand of lint (the universal act of woman to proclaim ownership).
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History is bright and fiction dull with homely men who have charmed women.
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There is one day that is ours. There is one day when all we Americans who are not self-made go back to the old home to eat saleratus biscuits and marvel how much nearer to the porch the old pump looks than it used to. Thanksgiving Day is the one day that is purely American.
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No friendship is an accident.
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When one loves one's Art no service seems too hard.
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I've got some of my best yarns from park benches, lamp posts and newspaper stands.
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What is the world at its best but a little round field of the moving pictures with two walking together in it?
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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.
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Humans were denied the speech of animals. The only common ground of communication upon which dogs and men can get together is in fiction.
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In time truth and science and nature will adapt themselves to art. Things will happen logically, and the villain be discomfited instead of being elected to the board of directors. But in the meantime fiction must not only be divorced from fact, but must pay alimony and be awarded custody of the press despatches.
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The magi, as you know, were wise men wonderfully wise men who brought gifts to the Babe in the manger. They invented the art of giving Christmas presents.
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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.
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Those whom we first love we seldom marry
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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.
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There was clearly nothing to do but flop down on the shabby little couch and howl.
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A burglar who respects his art always takes his time before taking anything else.
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It was beautiful and simple, as truly great swindles are.
O. Henry