Any Writer Who Knows What He's Doing

You Don't Write A Novel Out Of Sheer Pity Any More Than You Blow A Safe Out Of A Vague Longing To Be Rich. A Certain Ruthlessness And A Sense Of Alienation From Society Is As Essential To Creative Writing As It Is To Armed Robbery.

The Avocation Of Assessing The Failures Of Better Men Can Be Turned Into A Comfortable Livelihood, Providing You Back It Up With A Ph.d.

Never Lie Down With A Woman Who's Got More Troubles Than You.

I'm Not Against Sentimentality. I Think You Need It. I Mean, I Don't Think You Get A True Picture Of People Without It In Writing... It's A Kind Of Poetry, It's An Emotional Poetry, And, To Bring It Back To The Literary Scene, I Don't Think Anything Is True That Doesn't Have It, That Doesn't Have Poetry In It.

One Of The Best Things Henry Miller Ever Said Was That Art Goes All Out. It's All Out. It Goes Full Length. . . . A Big Book Is An All-out Book In Which You Limit Your Life To Things That Pertain Directly To The Book.