I have noticed that nothing I have never said ever did me any harm. |

Better to trip with the feet than with the tongue. |

What is an epigram? A dwarfish whole. Its body brevity, and wit its soul. |

Talent is helpful in writing, but guts are absolutely necessary. |

Writing is a solitary occupation. Family, friends, and society are the natural enemies of the writer. He must be alone, uninterrupted, and slightly savage if he is to sustain and complete an undertaking. |

No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader. |

It's only words... unless they're true. |

If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it. |

To hold a pen is to be at war. |

A witty saying proves nothing. |

I believe in the magic and authority of words. |

Cut out all these exclamation points. An exclamation point is like laughing at your own joke. |

Put your soul in the palm of my hand for me to look at, like a crystal jewel. I'll sketch it in words... |

So the writer who breeds more words than he needs, is making a chore for the reader who reads. |

You can tell it's a poem because it's swimming in a little gel pack of white space. That shows it's a poem. |

Books are written by the alone for the alone. |

The very reason I write is so that I might not sleepwalk through my entire life. |

You should write because you love the shape of stories and sentences and the creation of different words on a page. Writing comes from reading, and reading is the finest teacher of how to write. |

Brevity is the soul of wit. |

Atticus told me to delete the adjectives and I'd have the facts. |