“It is impossible for any Sherlock Holmes story not to have at least one marvelous scene.”

“I cannot write any sort of story unless there is at least one character in it for whom I have physical desire.”

“When an aggressor comes on the scene, at least one other state will eventually take direct responsibility for checking it.”

“The undramatic fact is that I just think and think and think until I have something [for a story], and there is nothing marvelous or artistic about the phenomenon.”

“the story of any one of us is in some measure the story of us all”

“I'm a firm believer that every person, young or old, has at least one good story to tell.”

“I suppose at one time in my life I might have had any number of stories, but now there is no other. This is the only story I will ever be able to tell.”

“The last scene came really, really early, disconnected from even the idea of a woman painter…I wanted to write a love story and I thought, ‘What do I want to tell?’ And that scene came up really, really quickly, alone, by itself. The weird compass of the film was its last scene. That’s a compass, but it’s a high pressure one.”

“Folklore, legends, myths and fairy tales have followed childhood through the ages, for every healthy youngster has a wholesome and instinctive love for stories fantastic, marvelous and manifestly unreal.”

“My favorite form is the short story. From an aesthetics stand point you really have to pare down to the bone. You can't write a throw-away scene.”