Life is so unlike theory.

Poverty, to be picturesque, should be rural. Suburban misery is as hideous as it is pitiable.

Conduct! Is conduct everything? One may conduct oneself excellently, and yet break one's heart.

Never think that you're not good enough. A man should never think that. People will take you very much at your own reckoning.

What on earth could be more luxurious than a sofa, a book, and a cup of coffee?...Was ever anything so civil?

A novelist's characters must be with him as he lies down to sleep, and as he wakes from his dreams. He must learn to hate them and to love them.