“I never drink while I'm working, but after a few glasses I get ideas that would never have occurred to me dead sober.”

“I never drink while I'm working, but after a few glasses I get ideas that would never have occurred to me dead sober.”

“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.”

“My attitudes have changed, but somebody would have to read all my books to find out how they have.”

“Critics in New York are made by their dislikes, not by their enthusiasms.”

“No writer need feel sorry for himself if he writes and enjoys the writing, even if he doesn’t get paid for it.”

“I cringe when critics say I'm a master of the popular novel. What's an unpopular novel?”

“I look at everything. God gave me eyes and I look at women and men and subway excavations and moving pictures and the little flowers of the field. I casually inspect the universe.”

“Now,' Elias said, 'if only I didn't have to go home to my lousy wife. I married her in 1929. A lot of things've changed since 1929.' He sighed. 'What's a woman?' he asked. 'A Woman is a trap.”