“Trees that are slow to grow bear the best fruit.”

“It infuriates me to be wrong when I know I'm right.”

“Writing is like prostitution. First you do it for love, and then for a few close friends, and then for money.”

“The world, dear Agnes, is a strange affair.”

“A learned fool is more a fool than an ignorant fool.”

“A wise man is superior to any insults which can be put upon him, and the best reply to unseemly behavior is patience and moderation.”

“Mostly, we authors must repeat ourselves - that's the truth. We have two or three great and moving experiences in our lives - experiences so great and moving that it doesn't seem at the time anyone...”

“Five common traits of good writers: (1) They have something to say. (2) They read widely and have done so since childhood. (3) They possess what Isaac Asimov calls a "capacity for clear thought," a...”

“There are lots of guys out there who write a better prose line than I do and who have a better understanding of what people are really like and what humanity is supposed to mean hell, I know that.”