The Tragedy Of The Man Not Set

Everybody Else Is Working To Change, Persuade, Tempt And Control Them. The Best Readers Come To Fiction To Be Free Of All That Noise.

My God! The English Language Is A Form Of Communication! Conversation Isn't Just Crossfire Where You Shoot And Get Shot At! Where You've Got To Duck For Your Life And Aim To Kill! Words Aren't Only Bombs And Bullets — No, They're Little Gifts, Containing Meanings!

When You Decide 'to Be A Writer,' You Don't Have The Faintest Idea Of What The Work Is Like. When You Begin, You Write Spontaneously Out Of Your Limited Experience Of Both The Unwritten World And The Written World. You're Full Of Naïve Exuberance. 'i Am A Writer!' Rather Like The Excitement Of 'i Have A Lover!' But Working At It Nearly Every Day For Fifty Years – Whether It Is Being The Writer Or Being The Lover – Turns Out To Be An Extremely Taxing Job And Hardly The Pleasantest Of Human Activities.

Actually We Did Not Have The Feelings We Said We Had Until We Spoke Them--at Least I Didn't; To Phrase Them Was To Invent Them And Own Them.

Nothing Lasts And Yet Nothing Passes Either, And Nothing Passes Just Because Nothing Lasts.