“Asking a writer what he thinks about critics is like asking what a fire hydrant feels about dogs.”

“Inside every seventy-year-old is a thirty-five-year-old asking, 'What happened?”

“If I were asked to give what I consider the single most useful bit of advice for all humanity, it would be this: Expect trouble as an inevitable part of life, and when it comes, hold your head high. Look it squarely in the eye, and say, 'I will be bigger than you. You cannot defeat me.”

“Asking a working writer what he feels about critics is like asking a lamppost what it feels about dogs.”

“Don't accept your dog's admiration as conslusive evidence that your are wonderful.”

“Asking a working writer what he thinks about critics is like asking a lamp-post what it feels about dogs."[Time Magazine, October 31, 1977]”

“It is not what you do for your children, but what you have taught them to do for themselves that will make them successful human beings.”