“I love writers who limit themselves, who write beneath their intelligence.”

“The really great writers are people like Emily Brontë who sit in a room and write out of their limited experience and unlimited imagination.”

“Distractions have never prevented a Writing Writer Who Writes from writing; distractions are an excuse proffered by Non-Writing Non-Writers Who are Not-Writing for why they are not writing.”

“1) Writers who write for other writers should write letters.”

“Those who write are writers. Those who wait are waiters.”

“That 'writers write' is meant to be self-evident. People like to say it. I find it is hardly ever true. Writers drink. Writers rant. Writers phone. Writers sleep. I have met very few writers who write at all.”

“Real writers are those who want to write, need to write, have to write.”

“Writers are not just people who sit down and write. They hazard themselves. Every time you compose a book your composition of yourself is at stake.”

“The good stories, of course, write themselves. And somebody wants to know who are the really good writers, and how many of them there are. There aren't any. Most of the writers are likeable frauds. Some are unlikable frauds.”

“A writer who writes straight is the architect of history.”