I am always interested in why young people become writers, and from talking with many I have concluded that most do not want to be writers working ei….

America is a nation with many flaws, but hopes so vast that only the cowardly would refuse to acknowledge them..

When I was a child in the Navy during World War II, I was perennially grateful to the armed services libraries for having on hand a good supply of th….

If a man happens to find himself, he has a mansion which he can inhabit with dignity all the days of his life..

Never forget, son, when you represent Texas, always go first class..

The sense of belonging is one of the great gifts men get in battle..

I think young people ought to seek that differential experience that is going to knock them off dead center. I was a typical American school boy. I h….

I never wrote anything that was published until I was forty..

I was once asked if I'd like to meet the president of a certain country. I said, "No, but I'd love to meet some sheepherders." The sheepherders, farm….

I have only one bit of advice to beginning writers: be sure your novel is read by Rodgers and Hammerstein..

The arrogance of the artist is a very profound thing, and it fortifies you..

As a younger man I wrote for eight years without ever earning a nickel which is a long apprenticeship, but in that time I learned a lot about my trad….

Writers turn dreams into print..

All I can do is play the game the way the cards fall..

You don't fight to protect warships or old men. Like the book says, you fight to save your civilization. And so often it seems that civilization is c….

organizations like the church or General Motors promote a man up and up until he reaches a spot which he is obviously incapable of filling, and there….

We are never prepared for what we expect..

As a writer I have persisted in my uncertainty, alternating between novels which could charitably be considered literature and world reporting which ….

Don't put off for tomorrow what you can do today because if you enjoy it today, you can do it again tomorrow..

Being goal-oriented instead of self-oriented is crucial. I know so many people who want to be writers. But let me tell you, they really don't want to….

The rules seem to be these: If you have written a successful novel, everyone invites you to write short stories. If you have written some good short ….