Malcolm Cowley

Be kind and considerate with your criticism... It's just as hard to write a bad book as it is to write a good book.

Talent is what you possess; genius is what possesses you.

It would have been the equivalent of Jackson Pollock's attempts to copy the Sistine Chapel.

Authors are sometimes like tomcats: They distrust all the other toms but they are kind to kittens.

Age is not different from earlier life as long as you're sitting down.

They tell you that you'll lose your mind when you grow older. What they don't tell you is that you won't miss it very much.