"Why do I write? I guess that's been asked of every writer. I don't know. It isn't any massive compulsion."

"It's part of the business of really not caring about topping myself because I really don't care what's going to happen. I think just surviving is a major thing. I'd like to write something that my peers, my colleagues, my fellow writers would find a source of respect."

"I don't think it's man's function to write. I don't think it's a normal thing like teeth-brushing and going to the bathroom. It's a supered position on the animal."

"If you write, fix pipes, grade papers, lay bricks or drive a taxi - do it with a sense of pride. And do it the best you know how. Be cognizant and sympathetic to the guy alongside, because he wants a place in the sun, too. And always...always look past his color, his creed, his religion and the shape of his ears. Look for the whole person. Judge him as the whole person."

"I write much better in the nonconfines of the early morning than I do the clutter of the day."

"You know, writer can write about the Foreign Legion without ever having been in the Foreign Legion, but that doesn't necessarily mean that what he's written doesn't necessarily reflect the nature of him as an individual - or her. Using the male gender because it's me speaking. I don't mean to put down the female."

"If you write beautifully, you write beautifully, that's all."

"Whenever you write, whatever you write, never make the mistake of assuming the audience is any less intelligent than you are."

"I don't know what my friends do. Generally they become producers. That way they can stop writing!"

"Somehow, some way, incredibly enough, good writing ultimately gets recognized. If you're a really good writer and deserve that honored position, then by God, you'll write, and you'll be read."