Writers cannot let themselves be servants of the official mythology. They have to, whatever the cost, say what truth they have to say.

Time, which is your enemy in almost everything in this life, is your friend in writing.

We are made to persist. that's how we find out who we are.

Fearlessness in those without power is maddening to those who have it.

One of the things that draws writers to writing is that they can get things right that they got wrong in real life by writing about them.

The beauty of a fragment is that it still supports the hope of brilliant completeness.

A piece of writing is a dangerous thing," he said. "It can change your life.

Real maturity is the ability to imagine the humanity of every person as fully as you believe in your own humanity.

Memory is funny. Once you hit a vein the problem is not how to remember but how to control the flow.

Everything has to be pulling weight in a short story for it to be really of the first order.

Most of us dont live lives that lend themselves to novelistic expression, because our lives are so fragmented.

When well told, a story captured the subtle movement of change. If a novel was a map of a country, a story was the bright silver pin that marked the crossroads.

I try. I am trying. I was trying. I will try. I shall in the meantime try. I sometimes have tried. I shall still by that time be trying.

There has never yet been a man in our history who led a life of ease whose name is worth remembering.

Cast out thy Jonah--every sleeping and secure sin that brings a tempest upon thy ship, vexation to thy spirit.

So, little by little, time brings out each several thing into view, and reason raises it up into the shores of light.

Humans are mentally sick with a disease called fear.

Some girls are just born with glitter in their veins.

There's a man upon that ledge, he's only cleaning windows. What a shame for the pain we're missing. Gonna lean back on my wall and pray for him to fall.

We sleep together in the dark but confuse light with love.

My life is going to change. I feel it.