Modern tragic writers have to write short stories; if they wrote long stories…cheerfulness would creep in. Such stories are like stings; brief, but purely painful.

Beneath the rule of men entirely great, / The pen is mightier than the sword.

People wonder why the novel is the most popular form of literature; people wonder why it is read more than books of science or books of metaphysics. The reason is very simple; it is merely that the novel is more true than they are.

Modern art has to be what is called ‘intense.’ it is not easy to define being intense; but, roughly speaking, it means saying only one thing at a time, and saying it wrong.

Literature is a luxury; fiction is a necessity.

There is something sinister about putting a leprechaun in a workhouse. The only solid comfort is that he certainly will not work.