Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
Writers turn dreams into print.
In six pages, I can't even say "Hello.
We are never prepared for what we expect.
It takes courage to know when you ought to be afraid.
Contrary to what people think, I slave over my books.
All I can do is play the game the way the cards fall.
It is difficult to be king when the gods are changing.
I'm not a very good writer, but I'm an excellent rewriter.
There are no insoluble problems. Only time-consuming ones.
Rampaging horsemen can conquer; only the city can civilize.
The decent thing to do is to get rid of some of this money.
I never wrote anything that was published until I was forty.
Scientists dream about doing great things. Engineers do them.
The dead are dead but they rely on us to fulfill their hopes.
Character consists of what you do on the third and fourth tries.
Creative geniuses are a slap-happy lot. Treat Them with respect.
No idea is ever dead until those who believe in it say it's dead.
The sense of belonging is one of the great gifts men get in battle.
A writer can make a fortune in America, but he can't make a living.
Never forget, son, when you represent Texas, always go first class.
You write that first draft really to see how it's going to come out.
First buy a cowboy hat and boots. Then you're on your way to being a Texan.
The arrogance of the artist is a very profound thing, and it fortifies you.
If you type adeptly with 10 fingers, you're typing faster than your mind is working.
A group of two dozen nurses completely surrounded by 100,000 unattached American men.
I missed a whole cycle of childhood, but I've never used it as a device for self-pity.
I love writing. I love the swirl and swing of words as they tangle with human emotions.
The job of a storyteller is to tell stories, and I have concentrated on that obligation.
I think young people ought to seek the experience that is going to knock them off center.
No man leaves where he is and seeks a distant place unless he is in some respect a failure.
Religious hatreds ought not to be propagated at all, but certainly not on a tax-exempt basis.
I wondered how a man ever got an English girl into bed. What did they do with her hockey stick?
They were a group of two dozen nurses completely surrounded by 100,000 unattached American men.
An age is called Dark not because the light fails to shine, but because people refuse to see it.
When this is over, I'm not going to be the same guy. I am going to live as if I were a great man.
If I were a young man, I would not hesitate at writing anything to get into print, except pornography.
I have only one bit of advice to beginning writers: be sure your novel is read by Rodgers and Hammerstein.
Whatever I did, there was always someone around who was better qualified. They just didn't bother to do it.
If your book doesn't keep you up nights when you are writing it, it won't keep anyone up nights reading it.
I've spent my life trying to be better than I was, and I am a brother to all who share the same aspiration.
...when men ignite in their hearts a religious fury, they inflict at the same time a blindness on their eyes.
I have only one bit of advice to the beginning writer: Be sure your novel is read by Rodgers and Hammerstein.
Don't put off for tomorrow what you can do today because if you enjoy it today, you can do it again tomorrow.
If a man happens to find himself, he has a mansion which he can inhabit with dignity all the days of his life.
If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion and avoid the people, you might better stay home.
America is a nation with many flaws, but hopes so vast that only the cowardly would refuse to acknowledge them.
A person on dialysis undergoes very heavy and irritating treatment, and in time, it seems more than you can bear.
If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion and avoid the people, you might better stay at home.
If I were a young man today, I might be lured into the moviemaking industry. You can really make a statement there.
It was the silent time before dawn, along the shores of what had been one of the most beautiful lakes in southern Africa.