An artist cannot deny art, nor would he want to. A lover cannot deny love.

When I split an infinitive, God damn it, I split it so it stays split.

Down these mean streets a man must go who is neither tarnished nor afraid

He looked about as inconspicuous as a tarantula on a slice of angel food.

Some are able and humane men and some are low-grade individuals with the morals of a goat, the artistic integrity of a slot machine, and the manners of a floorwalker with delusions of grandeur.

It was a blonde. A blonde to make a bishop kick a hole in a stained-glass window.

There are two kinds of truth; The truth that lights the way and the truth that warms the heart. The fist of these is science and the second is art.

It seemed like a nice neighborhood to have bad habits in.

The challenge of screenwriting is to say much in little and then take half of that little out and still preserve an effect of leisure and natural movement

At least half the mystery novels published violate the law that the solution, once revealed, must seem to be inevitable.

Chess is as elaborate a waste of human intelligence as you can find outside an advertising agency.

The truth knocks on the door and you say, "Go away, I'm looking for the truth, " and so it goes away. Puzzling.

Do you have vivid picture of your visions in your mind?

There were days I could run far, far away, never to see any of these people again.

How do you keep cheer when you go from beautiful to bald in three days?

How beautiful then is modesty and what a gem among virtues it is.

I wanted to be a writer since I was in high school, but I never thought it was possible.

Everything is so dreamy when you are young. After you grow up it kind of becomes -- just real.

I do not understand how a man can be a true believer, in whom sin is not the greatest burden, sorrow and trouble.

Kerosene," he said, because the silence had lengthened, "is nothing but perfume to me.

Each mans spills the drink he loves.