If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it

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.

Ask yourself, does this person make me feel good about myself? Do I feel safe, strong and free with this person? Those are the questions you need to ask....You have to be strong to truly be open.

There's a thin line between an uncertain 'Yes' and a certain 'No' known as 'lame indecisiveness'.

Religious speech is extreme, emotional, and motivational. It is anti-literal, relying on metaphor, allusion, and other rhetorical devices, and it assumes knowledge within a community of believers.

I need to take a sacred pause, as if I were a sun warmed rock in the center of a rushing river.

The censor's sword pierces deeply into the heart of free expression.

I think one of the reasons with problems with conversation on race is that this is such a deeply personal conversation that it requires trust and someone you know.

I believe in the God-given genius of certain individuals, and I value a society that makes their existence possible.

Remember now, Cheers, no tears.

Comfort, or revelation: God owes us one of these, but surely not both.

Every setback has a major comeback.