Never use the words 'suddenly' or 'all hell broke loose.'

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.

Powerful women always interpret hostility as unrequited love.

Be contented with the things of the world. Develop greed for God.

She sighed. Men were a pain.

Dogs laugh but they laugh with their tails.

The long day wanes; the slow moon climbs the deep.

I've won all the prizes in Europe, every bloody one. I'm delighted to win them all, the whole lot.

People will kill you over time, and how they'll kill you is with tiny, harmless phrases, like 'be realistic.'

Knowledge that takes you, not beyond yourself is far worse than ignorance.

It is the faithfulness of God that allows epistemology to model ontology.

The ball must be as slippery as a wet baby.