"You expect far too much of a first sentence. Think of it as analogous to a good country breakfast: what we want is something simple, but nourishing to the imagination."

— Larry McMurtry

"You never have to change anything you got up in the middle of the night to write."

— Saul Bellow

"A very good editor is almost a collaborator."

— Ken Follett

"A great book should leave you with many experiences, and slightly exhausted at the end. You live several lives while reading.”

— William Styron

"Jump, and you will find out how to unfold your wings as you fall."

— Ray Bradbury

"Books...are like lobster shells, we surround ourselves with 'em, then we grow out of 'em and leave 'em behind, as evidence of our earlier stages of development.”

— Dorothy Sayers

"Here I am, where I ought to be. A writer must have a place where he or she feels this, a place to love and be irritated with."

— Louise Erdich