I don't get in a position to be frightened. I don't do anything dangerous, and I always pay my bills.

I spent most of my dough on booze, broads and boats and the rest I wasted.

My most important piece of advice to all you would-be writers: When you write, try to leave out all the parts readers skip.

If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it. Or, if proper usage gets in the way, it may have to go. I can't allow what we learned in English composition to disrupt the sound and rhythm of the narrative.

The line of dialogue belongs to the character; the verb is the writer sticking his nose in.

What do you tell a man with two black eyes? Nothing, he's already been told twice.

It doesn't have to make sense, it just has to sound like it does.

Using adverbs is a mortal sin.

At the time I begin writing a novel, the last thing I want to do is follow a plot outline. To know too much at the start takes the pleasure out of discovering what the book is about.

Try not to write the parts that people skip.

All the information you need can be given in dialogue.

Be honest with yourself, face your feelings and what they really mean, then you will be able to deal with them and move on.

I am an author! To read me is to know me.

Be crazy dumbsaint of the mind.

My mother is a singer, still performs today; she's a jazz singer.

I'd spent half of my life crying, the other half refusing to cry

I don't have the patience to sit and write.

Poe was a student of many things, and among those things he read and referred to in his work was the Bible.

If you're a Black artist, you could paint a wall of smiley faces, and someone will still ask you, 'Why are you so angry?'

Bad beginnings, bad endings.

When you finish college, you don’t suddenly have thousands of dollars a year to spend elsewhere - in fact, you have to find a way to pay back your loans.