The expression “to write something down” suggests a descent of thought to the fingers whose movements immediately falsify it. – William Gass, “Habitations of the Word,” Kenyon Review, October 1984

Words were the only net to catch a mood, the only sure weapon against oblivion. – Jan Struther, Mrs. Miniver, 1930s

A good style should show no signs of effort. What is written should seem a happy accident. – W. Somerset Maugham, Summing Up, 1938

Let’s hope the institution of marriage survives its detractors, for without it there would be no more adultery and without adultery two thirds of our novelists would stand in line for unemployment checks. – Peter S. Prescott