Try not to write the parts that people skip.

I spent most of my dough on booze, broads and boats and the rest I wasted.

My most important piece of advice to all you would-be writers: When you write, try to leave out all the parts readers skip.

If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it. Or, if proper usage gets in the way, it may have to go. I can't allow what we learned in English composition to disrupt the sound and rhythm of the narrative.

The line of dialogue belongs to the character; the verb is the writer sticking his nose in.

What do you tell a man with two black eyes? Nothing, he's already been told twice.

It doesn't have to make sense, it just has to sound like it does.

Using adverbs is a mortal sin.

At the time I begin writing a novel, the last thing I want to do is follow a plot outline. To know too much at the start takes the pleasure out of discovering what the book is about.

All the information you need can be given in dialogue.

Everyone has his own sound. I'm not going to presume how to tell anybody how to write.

Personal qualities are much more important than qualifications.

The weak are always anxious for justice and equality. The strong pay no heed to either.

I celebrate masculinity when I'm onstage.

When you look at the startling ruins of Nuremberg, you are looking at a result of the war. When you look at the prisoners on view in the courthouse, you are looking at 22 of the causes.

It's my job that if somebody wants to have a discussion about something, I'm certainly sensitive to that, and I'm willing to do it.

A man will reveal his true self, or so it seems, on the tennis court.

I am a socialist, a believer in rational thought and the rule of law.

I'm a very compulsive person, so I spend most of my time drawing or writing my diary, patching things up and carving bits of wood - I've carved two of my guitars.

Forgiveness liberates the soul, it removes fear.

The soul, which is spirit, can not dwell in dust; it is carried along to dwell in the blood.