“Finishing is what you have to do. If you don't finish, nothing is worth a damn”

“Scott took LITERATURE so solemnly. He never understood that it was just writing as well as you can and finishing what you start.”

“The hard part about writing a novel is finishing it.”

“If a writer stops observing he is finished. Experience is communicated by small details intimately observed.”

“You don't have to destroy me. Do you? ...”

“I would walk along the quais when I had finished work or when I was trying to think something out. It was easier to think if I was walking and doing something or seeing people doing something that they understood.”

“Forget your personal tragedy. We are all bitched from the start and you especially have to be hurt like hell before you can write seriously. But when you get the damned hurt, use it-don't cheat with it.”