There are too many books I haven't read, too many places I haven't seen, too many memories I haven't kept long enough.

Ernest Hemingway did a great deal toward making the writer an acceptable public figure; obviously, he was no sissy.

At the height of the McCarthy period, writers were being hounded.

I haven't stuck to any formula. Most great writers stick to the same style, but I wanted to be more various.

I think acting is a work of imagination.

Film editing is now something almost everyone can do at a simple level and enjoy it, but to take it to a higher level requires the same dedication and persistence that any art form does.

Culturally, it's really funny to me that people respect the weird guy as an artist. There can be a curmudgeon in the corner with spiders building nests in his hair, and he hasn't bathed for three weeks, but for whatever reason, he's more creative than the guy sitting next to him that's showered and is talking to everybody.

A work of fiction is conceived very much the same way as a dream occurs in the mind of a sleeper. But a lot of it is imagination. It's not based on real people.