Truman Capote

When God hands you a gift, he also hands you a whip; and the whip is intended solely for self-flagellation.

A conversation is a dialogue, not a monologue. That’s why there are so few good conversations: due to scarcity, two intelligent talkers seldom meet.

Venice is like eating an entire box of chocolate liqueurs in one go.

To me, the greatest pleasure of writing is not what it's about, but the music the words make.

Young men think old men are fools but old men know young men are fools.

It's a scientific fact that if you stay in California you lose one point of your IQ every year.

I believe more in the scissors than I do in the pencil.

Finishing a book is just like you took a child out in the back yard and shot it.

The most dangerous thing in the world is to make a friend of an Englishman, because he’ll come sleep in your closet rather than spend ten shillings on a hotel.

In California everyone goes to a therapist, is a therapist, or is a therapist going to a therapist.

The better the actor the more stupid he is.

The brain may take advice, but not the heart.

The serious artist . . . is like an object caught by a wave and swept to shore. He’s obsessed by his material; it’s like a venom working in his blood and the art is the antidote.

Life is a moderately good play with a badly written third act.

I only know how true it is: that love is a chain of love, as nature is a chain of life.

A man who doesn't dream is like a man who doesn't sweat: he stores up a lot of poison.

Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavour.

Other voices, other rooms.

Writing has laws of perspective, of light and shade, just as painting does, or music. If you are born knowing them, fine. If not, learn them. Then rearrange the rules to suit yourself.

A story can be wrecked by a faulty rhythm in a sentence—especially if it occurs toward the end—or a mistake in paragraphing, even punctuation.

A boy has to peddle his book.

Never demean yourself by talking back to a critic.… Write those letters to the editor in your head, but don’t put them on paper.