Irwin Shaw

“A writer is a human being. He has to live with a sense of honor.”

“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 the world hands out and the punishment he inflicts upon himself.”

“Special-interest magazines are dangerous places for writers to start out in because the writing quickly falls into a routine and people are likely to find themselves artistically exhausted when they want to work on something of their own.”

“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 casually inspect the universe.”

“Posterity makes the judgments. There are going to be a lot of surprises in store for everybody.”

“A good editor understands what you're talking and writing about and doesn't meddle too much.”

“In a novel, it's hard to keep track of everybody.”

“When I started out in the early 1930s, there were a great many magazines that published short stories. Unfortunately, the short-story market has dwindled to almost nothing.”

“I am forced to say that I have many fiercer critics than myself.”

“Kennedy was a man who liked writers and even I got invited to the White House.”