John O'Hara

“A writer's life is a highly vulnerable, almost naked activity.”

“I did not want to be a writer, but I had to be.”

“He told the truth, mainly. He was a writer. He was a man.”

“I want to get it all down on paper while I can.”

“Being a writer is a lonely life; you are cut off from the rest of the world, even the parts of it that you are writing about.”

“An artist is a creature driven by demons.”

“I want to be an honest man and a good writer.”

“I am a pariah, and I don't know why.”

“I have no message. I have no ax to grind. I'm just a storyteller.”

“If you're a writer, you're a writer. You're not a writer on the weekends.”

“It's a terrible thing to be a great writer.”

“I'm a Pennsylvania man. I was born in Pottsville.”

“Hollywood is a place where they'll pay you a thousand dollars for a kiss and fifty cents for your soul.”

“Good writing is supposed to evoke sensation in the reader—not the fact that it is raining, but the feeling of being rained upon.”

“I'm not a lovable man.”

“A rage to tell. That's what I've had.”