When it's in a book I don't think it'll hurt any more ...exist any more. One of the things writing does is wipe things out. Replace them.

Men like women who write, even though they don't say so. A writer is a foreign country.

Започнах да пиша в обкръжение, което твърде силно ме тласкаше към целомъдрие. Писането тогава беше морален акт. Писането сега като че ли често е лишено от смисъл. Понякога осъзнавам следното: че ако писането не означава домогване до суетата и преходността като съвкупност от всички неща, то няма смисъл. Че ако не означава непременно сливане на всички неща в едно-единствено, неокачествимо по своята същност нещо, писането няма друг смисъл, освен самоизтъкване. Но най-често нямам мнение, виждам, че всички полета са открити, сякаш не съществуват вече стени, сякаш написаното не знае вече къде да се дене, за да се скрие, за да се осъществи, за да се прочете, сякаш изконната му неблагопристойност не се зачита вече, но не се замислям по-дълбоко над това.

There are lots of guys out there who write a better prose line than I do and who have a better understanding of what people are really like and what humanity is supposed to mean – hell, I know that.

Mostly, we authors must repeat ourselves - that's the truth. We have two or three great and moving experiences in our lives - experiences so great and moving that it doesn't seem at the time anyone else has been so caught up and so pounded and dazzled and astonished and beaten and broken and rescued and illuminated and rewarded and humbled in just that way ever before.

Then we learn our trade, well or less well, and we tell our two or three stories - each time in a new disguise - maybe ten times, maybe a hundred, as long as people will listen.

Write as if you were dying. At the same time, assume you write for an audience consisting solely of terminal patients. That is, after all, the case. What would you begin writing if you knew you would die soon? What could you say to a dying person that would not enrage by its triviality?