A writer who waits for ideal conditions under which to work will die without putting a word to paper.

An editor is a person who knows more about writing than writers do but who has escaped the terrible desire to write.

There's no limit to how complicated things can get, on account of one thing always leading to another.

Safety is all well and good: I prefer freedom.

Life's meaning has always eluded me and I guess always will. But I love it just the same.

Loneliness is a strange gift.

All that I hope to say in books, all that I ever hope to say, is that I love the world.

Semi-colons only prove that the author has been to college.

To achieve style, begin by affecting none.

I am always humbled by the infinite ingenuity of the Lord, who can make a red barn cast a blue shadow.

Hang on to your hat. Hang on to your hope. And wind the clock, for tomorrow is another day.

The best writing is rewriting.

No one can write decently who is distrustful of the reader's intelligence or whose attitude is patronizing.

Habitually creative people are prepared to be lucky.

Writing is an act of faith, not a trick of grammar.

Reading is the work of the alert mind, is demanding, and under ideal conditions produces finally a sort of ecstasy.

I have one share in corporate Earth, and I am nervous about the management.

Make the work interesting and the discipline will take care of itself.

Use the smallest word that does the job.