“Nine-tenths of the value of a sense of humor in writing is not in the things it makes one write but in the things it keeps one from writing.”

“I am one thing, my writings are another.”

“Good writing is clear. Talented writing is energetic. Good writing avoids errors. Talented writing makes things happen in the reader's mind---vividly, forcefully…”

“One man writes a novel. One man writes a symphony. It is essential that one man make a film.”

“This is the Unix philosophy: Write programs that do one thing and do it well. Write programs to work together. Write programs to handle text streams, because that is a universal interface.”

“Writing is saying to no one and to everyone the things it is not possible to say to someone.”

“The hardest thing about writing is writing.”

“I am essentially a religious type. In my teens I gave up Catholicism, and at the same time I started writing. Writing keeps me at my desk, constantly trying to write a perfect sentence. It is a great privilege to make one's living from writing sentences. The sentence is the greatest invention of civilization. To sit all day long assembling these extraordinary strings of words is a marvelous thing. I couldn't ask for anything better. It's as near to godliness as I can get.”

“The funny thing about writing is that whether you're doing it well or you're doing it poorly, it looks the exact same. That is actually one of the main ways that writing is different from ballet dancing.”

“Time will come when one's safety lies in ten things: nine of which are in staying aloof from men, and the tenth in staying silent.”