 A writer is a human being. He has to live with a sense of honor. |
| Writing is finally play, and there's no reason why you should get paid for playing. |
| Writing is like a contact sport, like football. You can get hurt, but you enjoy it. |
| The romantic idea is that everybody around a writer must suffer for his talent. I think a writer is a citizen of humanity, part of his nation, part of his family. He may have to make some compromises. |
| When I started out in the early 1930s, there were a great many magazines that published short stories. Unfortunately, the short-story market has dwindled to almost nothing. |
| I imagine that my characters have become much more complicated than when I first began, which would be normal. |
| People who light up like Roman candles come down in the dark very quickly. |
| The writer works in a lonely way. |
| I cringe when critics say I'm a master of the popular novel. What's an unpopular novel? |
| I haven't stuck to any formula. Most great writers stick to the same style, but I wanted to be more various. |
| I reach my readers regardless of what the critics have written. |
| You have to expect the raps when you have achieved popularity as a writer. |
| A good editor understands what you're talking and writing about and doesn't meddle too much. |
| Kennedy was a man who liked writers and even I got invited to the White House. |
| The great writers just kept bringing them out. They didn't care if they repeated themselves. |
| If you're young enough, any kind of writing you do for a short period of time is a marvelous apprenticeship. |
| I've gone on the wagon, but my body doesn't believe it. |
| My attitudes have changed, but somebody would have to read all my books to find out how they have. |
| Writing for the theater, you find yourself living a nocturnal life. |
| Curiously, the United States is full of writers who have one big work in their life and that's all. |
