I knew a couple of things... during the war years they came out with reprints of all the Dumas novels, Moby Dick, for the servicement, and I saw this and believe me I'm a very sharp merchandiser, and I say this is the new marketplace for writing: original paperback books.

I'm not an author, I'm a writer, that's all I am. Authors want their names down in history; I want to keep the smoke coming out of the chimney.

I was the first one probably in writing to use a nickname, Mickey, and it stuck.

The temperature was six below zero and it kept me dying on the spot because the blood coagulated and clotted in ugly smears of cloth and skin and the pain hadn…

When I started the paperback market, there were only a few good writers, now the market's loaded... you don't know which one to take.

Mon centre cede, ma droite recule, situation excellente, j'attaque.

Some said, 'John, print it;' others said, 'Not so.' Some said, 'It might do good;' others said, 'No.'