In A Certain Sense A Writer Is

Can You Imagine Writers Influencing Things In America? Can You Imagine A Writer In England Influencing? Absolutely Not. And In France? It Used To Be, But No More - Absolutely Not. France Used To, At Least, Have Writers As Diplomats, But Not Any More.

Sincerity Is Never Having An Idea Of Oneself.

I Don't Understand Writers Who Feel They Shouldn't Have To Do Any Of The Ordinary Things Of Life, Because I Think That This Is Necessary: One Has To Keep In Touch With That... The Ordinary Action Of Taking A Dress Down To The Dry Cleaner's Or Spraying Some Plants Infected With Greenfly Is A Very Sane And Good Thing To Do. It Brings One Back, So To Speak. It Also Brings The World Back.

I Believe - I Know (there Are Not Many Things I Should Care To Dogmatize About, On The Subject Of Writing) That Writers Need Solitude, And Seek Alienation Of A Kind Every Day Of Their Working Lives. (and Remember, They Are Not Even Aware When And When Not They Are Working.) ... The Tension Between Standing Apart And Being Fully Involved; That Is What Makes A Writer.

The Facts Are Always Less Than What Really Happened.