Frank Norris

“By God, I will not compromise.”

“No art that is not in the end understood by the People can live or ever did live a single generation.”

“I detest 'fine writing,' 'style,' for its own sake.”

“Naturalism is a form of romanticism, not an inner circle of realism.”

“The men who have done things are the men who have done one thing.”

“Believe me, I never scamp my work.”

“I never truckled. I never took off the hat to Fashion and held it out for pennies. I told them the truth.”

“The People have a right, the essential and inalienable right, to know all that is done by their public servants.”

“Life is not a pleasure, but a duty.”

“To be a naturalistic writer is to believe that life is a mess.”

“Terrible things must happen to the characters of the naturalistic tale.”

“The function of the novelist... is to comment upon life as he sees it.”

“The story is the main thing.”