The Pains of being a Writer

“I never want to see anyone, and I never want to go anywhere or do anything. I just want to write.”

“The main question to a novel is - did it amuse? were you surprised at dinner coming so soon? did you mistake eleven for ten? were you too late to dress? and did you sit up beyond the usual hour? If a novel produces these effects, it is good; if it does not - story, language, love, scandal itself cannot save it. It is only meant to please; and it must do that or it does nothing.”

“The first chapter sells the book; the last chapter sells the next book.”

“By writing much, one learns to write well.”

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