People wonder at the romantic lives of poets and artists, but they should rather wonder at their gift of expression. The occurrences which pass unnoticed in the life of the average man in the existence of a writer of talent are profoundly interesting. It is the man they happen to that makes their significance.

I have an idea that the only thing which makes it possible to regard this world we live in without disgust is the beauty which now and then men create out of the chaos. The pictures they paint, the music they compose, the books they write, and the lives they lead. Of all these the richest in beauty is the beautiful life. That is the perfect work of art.

I thought with melancholy how an author spends months writing a book, and maybe puts his heart’s blood into it, and then it lies about unread till the reader has nothing else in the world to do.

There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.

Only a mediocre person is always at his best.

I write only when inspiration strikes. Fortunately it strikes every morning at nine o'clock sharp.

The writer is more concerned to know than to judge.

We do not write because we want to; we write because we have to.

If you can tell stories, create characters, devise incidents, and have sincerity and passion, it doesn't matter a damn how you write.