"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…"

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

"...all writers speak from, and speak to, emotions eternally the same in all of us: love, pity, terror do not show fav…"

"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…"