Never write anything that does not give you great pleasure. Emotion is easily transferred from the writer to the reader.

Never cut what you can untie.

Old age deprives the intelligent man only of qualities useless to wisdom.

Necessity may render a doubtful act innocent, but it cannot make it praiseworthy.

Why does my Muse only speak when she is unhappy? She does not, I only listen when I am unhappy.

When I was young I longed to write a great novel that should win me fame. Now that I am getting old my first book is written to amuse children. For aside from …

Strangely, some songs you really don't want to write. I didn't like writing 'Heathen'. There was something so ominous and final about it. It was early in the m…