“I've always been the audience that I wanted to reach, so I write for myself.”
“A writer writes. Period. No matter if someone is buying your work or not.”
“A true friend is someone who is there for you when he'd rather be anywhere else.”
“I've always thought of myself as an organic writer, rather than a cerebral one. I feel my way along as I go, hoping I'll get to the place I intend to reach.”
“I try to find what makes even the worst, most despicable character sympathetic at his or her core.”
“I'm a neurotic New York Jew by birth. Creating characters is second nature to me.”
“It all depends on which side of the desk you're sitting on.”
“Sometimes you're not even sure which of your stories were failures. There are things I've written that I thought were complete catastrophes when I finished with them that have gone on to generate some of my most positive feedback.”
“If a story isn't working, I'm simply unable to finish it. That's what usually tells me something is wrong.”
“Art is always in the eyes of the beholder. Only posterity has the right to point out our mistakes.”
“I've never sat down and thought about the difference between plot and theme. To me, that's never been important.”
“Lord of the Rings, I think, is far and away the most brilliantly done stuff.”
“I hate the crazy, neurotic characters beyond a certain point.”
“People who were more concerned with themselves and looking good to their readers then they were with the characters sacrificed a series for the sake of a story.”
“Love is the most terrible, and also the most generous of the passions; it is the only one which includes in its dreams the happiness of someone else.”
“Uncertainty is the worst of all evils until the moment when reality makes us regret uncertainty.”
“Botany is the art of insulting flowers in Greek and Latin.”
“A widow is like a frigate of which the first captain has been shipwrecked.”
“Flowing water is at once a picture and a music, which causes to flow at the same time from my brain, like a limpid and murmuring rivulet, sweet thoughts, charming reveries, and melancholy remembrances.”
“If men knew all that women think, they would be twenty times more audacious.”
“I gather from a lawyer that there was a rehearsal yesterday. We haven't a hope. I know the presiding judge too: I've had the misfortune to sleep with his wife. He was specially picked.”
“The more the change, the more it is the same thing.”
“If women only knew the extent of their power!”
“Though we have two eyes, we are supplied with but one tongue. Draw your own moral.”
“Almost every one flatters himself that he and his are exceptionable.”
