Not until my middle thirties did I consider myself a novelist.
Mothers have a habit of proving right except you don’t find that out until you’re the age your mother was when she gave you the advice.
Never let anyone or any social attitude stand in the way of your productivity.
Consider the “new” woman. She’s trying to be Pollyanna Borgia, clearly a conflict of interest. She’s supposed to be a ruthless winner at work and a bundle of nurturing sweetness at home.
Never measure literature by accounting statistics. A quarter of working authors earn less than $1,000.
The price of dishonesty is self-destruction.
I think in the years to come what Reagan will be remembered for is that he had the chance to stop the plague and he chose not to because the ‘right people’ were dying.
It’s still easier to take a blow from outside than it is to be disgusted with myself for not taking a stand. I don’t know how people can live and not fight back but apparently millions do. They must hate themselves.
I think you can judge the level of success for any group of people by the reaction against it.
He tried to drown his troubles but they knew how to swim.
I no longer idolize reason. I have come to accept that ninety percent of what we do is irrational and that we spend what little rational thought we have in justifying our irrationality.
Two wrongs don’t make a right. No, but three will get you back on the freeway!
If you’re afraid to die, you’re afraid to live. You can’t have one without the other.
I’ve got splinters in my nose from the best publishing doors in town.
Dean: Don’t you find that somewhat of an aberration? Doesn’t this disturb you my dear? After all, it’s not normal. Molly: I know it’s not normal for people in this world to be happy, and I’m happy.
One thing Mom taught me, “You’re going to be dead a long time, so do it now!”
I had to learn the image is not the word, which is a jolt for a literary soul. But it has served me well in terms of understanding plot, in terms of watching actors develop characters.
Knowing Latin and having two years of Attic Greek gave me the strong foundation upon which I’ve built a career. I think the classical training, more than anything, has provided me with longevity.
I write poetry. It comes naturally to me, but from a technical point of view it forces me to pay close attention to language and to scan.
American hunting is quite different from English hunting because we don’t hunt to kill. Even if I wanted to kill a fox, I couldn’t. They’re too smart and they have too many ways to escape me, whereas they don’t in England.
I love literature, the English language and storytelling. I also have thirty horses and seventy foxhounds to feed.