“it's been my experience that most writers don't talk about their craft--they just do it”

“I have a great many opinions about writing, but I'm afraid that all of them are unprintable”

“He promised to write a book later about the trip. He sold the rights to the motion pictures and still photographs that would be taken, and he agreed to give a long lecture series on his return. In all these arrangments, there was one basic assumption - that Shackleton would survive.”

“In that instant they felt an overwhelming sense of pride and accomplishment. Though they had failed dismally even to come close to the expedition's original objective, they knew now that somehow they had done much, much more than ever they set out to do.”

“No matter what the odds, a man does not pin his last hope for survival on something and then expect that it will fail.”

“When a writer talks about his work, he's talking about a love affair.”

“I heard people talking about what this Red Army did to any Germans they captured, and this only added to my fears.”