Writing is like a contact sport, like football. Why do kids play football? They can get hurt on any play, can't they? Yet they can't wait until Satur…

- Irwin Shaw

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

- Irwin Shaw

Writing is like a contact sport, like football. You can get hurt, but you enjoy it.

- Irwin Shaw

An absolutely necessary part of a writer's equipment, almost as necessary as talent, is the ability to stand up under punishment, both the punishment…

- Irwin Shaw

People who light up like Roman candles come down in the dark very quickly.

- Irwin Shaw

I look at everything. God gave me eyes and I look at women and men and subway excavations and moving pictures and the little flowers of the field. I …

- Irwin Shaw

I never show anything to anybody until I've finished it

- Irwin Shaw

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.

- Irwin Shaw

You must avoid giving hostages to fortune, like getting an expensive wife, an expensive house, and a style of living that never lets you aford the ti…

- Irwin Shaw