"Power corrupts. Absolute power is kind of neat. "
Secretary of the Navy, 1981-1987
"Far too many relied on the classic formula of a beginning, a muddle, and an end."
British poet referring to modern novels
"Asking a working writer what he thinks about critics is like asking a lamp-post how it feels about dogs."
"We do not have censorship. What we have is a limitation on what newspapers can report."
Deputy Minister of Information, South Africa
"I've just read that I'm dead. Don't forget to delete me from your list of subscribers."
writing to a magazine that had mistakenly published an announcement of his death
"There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are."
"The difference between fiction and reality? Fiction has to make sense."
"After all, all he did was string together a lot of old, well-known quotations."
on Shakespeare
"I'm returning this note to you, instead of your paper, because it (your paper) presently occupies the bottom of my bird cage."
Providence College
"Small earthquake in Chile. Not many dead."
forward as an example of a dull newspaper headline
"Substitute "damn" every time you're inclined to write "very"; your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be."
Quotedb: The Quotations Database
