"It's by living on, it seems me now, that the way of real honesty lies. The realest possible honesty is come by, attai…"

"Needle in air, I stopped what I was making. From the upper casement, my look-out on the sea, I saw them disembark and…"

"The nickname of the train was the Yellow Dog. Its real name was the Yazoo-Delta. It was a mixed train. The day was th…"

"[he] said to her, "You will find that men who are generous the way he is generous have needs to match.""

"If you're so smart, why ain't you rich?"

"The story and its analyses are not mirror-opposites of each other. They are not reflections, either one. Criticism in…"

"How can you go out on a limb if you do not know your own tree? No art ever came out of not risking your neck. And ris…"

"Making reality real is art's responsibility. It is a practical assignment, then, a self-assignment: to achieve, by a …"

"What can place not give? Theme. It can present theme, show it to the last detail — but place is forever illustrative:…"

"What I do in the writing of any character is to try to enter into the mind, heart and skin of a human being who is no…"