“You know how advice is. You only want it if it agrees with what you wanted to do anyway.”

If you find yourself in a fair fight, your tactics suck.

If you want to destroy a nation, give it too much – make it greedy, miserable and sick.

I shall revenge myself in the cruelest way you can imagine. I shall forget it.

How can you frighten a man whose hunger is not only in his own cramped stomach but in the wretched bellies of his children? You can’t scare him–he has known a fear beyond every other.

With all our horrors and faults, somewhere in us there is a shining.

Socialism is just another form of religion, and thus delusional.

Write freely and as rapidly as possible and throw the whole thing on paper.

And, of course, people are interested only in themselves. If a story is not about the hearer he will not listen.

When a man comes to die, no matter what his talents and influences and genius, if he dies unloved his life must be a failure to him and his dying a cold horror.

A writer lives in awe of words, for they can be cruel or kind, and they can change their meanings right in front of you. They pick up flavors and odors like butter in a refrigerator.

If you’re in trouble, or hurt or need – go to the poor people. They’re the only ones that’ll help – the only ones.

I have come to believe that a great teacher is a great artist and that there are as few as there are any other great artists. Teaching might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit.

I believe that love cannot be bought except with love.

Only mediocrity escapes criticism.

Girls have a way of knowing or feeling what you feel, but they usually like to hear it also.

My imagination will get me a passport to hell one day.