James Salter Quotes
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The deepest instinct is to want to do something enduring, something worthwhile, and to be engaged by that, whether one achieves it or not.
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I love to write about Nabokov and also to think about him. I love his attitude that he is incomparable, his lofty judgments and general scorn of other writers - not all of them, of course.
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It's possible of course, especially when you're young, to read a book and take it to your heart. And you don't need to speak to anybody about it - it's so important to you: You have found it.
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I think you can be taught to write. You can't be taught to be a good writer. For that, you have to bring something to it, yourself, something that can't be given to you.
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The death of kings can be recited, but not of one's child.
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My first book was published without any editorial advice. Nobody said, 'You might do this or that,' or 'Why don't we see more of this.' I merely took the book and published it.
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I like aristocracy. I like the beauty of aristocracy. I like the hierarchical feeling.
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Every nation feels itself to be superior, but in America it's a jaunty feeling, and in some cases a rather ominous one among the super-patriots.
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Most writers can write three times as many books as I have and still live a life.
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I've made an effort to nurture the feminine in myself. I don't mean overtly, but in terms of response to things.
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I find the most difficult part of writing is to get it down initially because what you have written is usually so terrible that it's disheartening; you don't want to go on. That's what I think is hard - the discouragement that comes from seeing what you have done.
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I would say that I am a jaded man beyond most expectations, but, like everyone else, I still have hope.
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I've known the anxiety of being completely lost, flying at night. It can be extreme. You're travelling at close to five hundred miles an hour, and every minute that goes by takes you further into being lost unless you get help from ground radar somewhere or somehow figure out the error.
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Written pages are something that can be returned to, reclaimed, and when they are marvelous, never lose their power.