“Good writing is good conversation, only more so.”

“When I had finished the book I knew that no matter what Scott did, nor how he behaved, I must know it was like a sickness and be of any help I could to him and try to be a good friend. He had many good, good friends, more than anyone I knew. But I enlisted as one more, whether I could be of any use to him or not. If he could write a book as fine as The Great Gatsby I was sure that he could write an even better one. I did not know Zelda yet, and so I did not know the terrible odds that were against him. But we were to find them out soon enough.”

“You know you’re writing well when you’re throwing good stuff into the wastebasket.”

“How good a book is should be judged by the man who writes it by the excellence of the material that he eliminates.”

“Some other places were not so good but maybe we were not so good when we were in them.”

“For a long time now I have tried simply to write the best I can. Sometimes I have good luck and write better than I can.”

“Do you suffer when you write? I don't at all. Suffer like a bastard when don't write, or just before, and feel empty and fucked out afterwards. But never feel as good as while writing.”