Faithfulness to the past can be a kind of death above ground. Writing of the past is a resurrection; the past then lives in your words and you are free.

Talent is helpful in writing, but guts are absolutely essential.

Talent is helpful in writing, but guts are absolutely necessary.

Fiction is [a form of writing which] reveals truths that reality obscures.

The past is really almost as much a work of the imagination as the future.

Writing is a solitary occupation. Family, friends, and society are the natural enemies of the writer. He must be alone, uninterrupted, and slightly savage if he is to sustain and complete an undertaking.