A writer has to live with a sense of honor.

My favorite short-story writer is John Cheever.

No writer need feel sorry for himself if he writes and enjoys it, even if he doesn't get paid.

Ernest Hemingway did a great deal toward making the writer an acceptable public figure; obviously, he was no sissy.

An absolutely necessary part of a writer's equipment, almost as necessary as talent, is the ability to stand up under punishment, both the punishment the world hands out and the punishment he inflicts upon himself.

The romantic idea is that everybody around a writer must suffer for his talent. I think a writer is a citizen of humanity, part of his nation, part of his family. He may have to make some compromises.