To me, the greatest pleasure of writing is not what it's about, but the inner music the words make.

Writing has laws of perspective, of light and shade, just as painting does, or music.

Most of the basic material a writer works with is acquired before the age of fifteen.

The pen is the tongue of the mind.

Speak your dialogue out loud. If it sounds like the way people talk, then write it down.

I am convinced that all writers are optimists whether they concede the point or not ... How otherwise could any human being sit down to a pile of blank sheets and decide to write, say two hundred thousand words on a given theme?

Who often reads, will sometimes wish to write.

Writing is a holy chore.

Everything goes by the board: honor, pride, decency ... to get the book written. If a writer has to rob his mother, he will not hesitate; the "Ode on a Grecian Urn" is worth any number of old ladies.

It is the writer's privilege to help man endure by lifting his heart.