There is simply a better chance of doing well if the writer holds a steady course, enters the stream of English quietly, and does not thrash about.
I always write a thing first and think about it afterward, which is not a bad procedure because the easiest way to have consequential thoughts is to start putting them down.
Oh, I never look under the hood.
Television should be our Lyceum, our Chautauqua, our Minsky’s and our Camelot.
I discovered, though, that once having given a pig an enema there is no turning back, no chance of resuming one of life’s more stereotyped roles.
I am still encouraged to go on. I wouldn’t know where else to go.
The crickets felt it was their duty to warn everybody that summertime cannot last for ever. Even on the most beautiful days in the whole year – the days when summer is changing into autumn – the crickets spread the rumor of sadness and change.
When you say something, make sure you have said it. The chances of your having said it are only fair.
Democracy is itself, a religious faith. For some it comes close to being the only formal religion they have.
Safety is all well and good: I prefer freedom.
There is no trick to it. If you like to write and want to write, you write, no matter where you are or what else you are doing or whether anyone pays any heed.
The siren south is well enough, but New York, at the beginning of March, is a hoyden we would not care to miss – a drafty wench, her temperature up and down, full of bold promises and dust in the eye.
Einstein is loved because he is gentle, respected because he is wise. Relativity being not for most of us, we elevate its author to a position somewhere between Edison, who gave us a tangible gleam, and God, who gave us the difficult dark and the hope of penetrating it.
Is there anything in the universe more beautiful and protective than the simple complexity of a spider’s web?
Although there is no substitute for merit in writing, clarity comes closest to being one.
Children are game for anything. I throw them hard words, and they backhand them over the net. They love words that give them a hard time, provided they are in a context that absorbs their attention.
Humor is like a frog. You can dissect it to see how it works, but by then, it’s dead.
I have always felt that the first duty of a writer was to ascend – to make flights, carrying others along if you can manage it. To do this takes courage, even a certain conceit.
There is a period near the beginning of every man’s life when he has little to cling to except his unmanageable dream, little to support him except good health, and nowhere to go but all over the place.
It can destroy an individual, or it can fulfill him, depending a good deal on luck. No one should come to New York to live unless he is willing to be lucky.