The writing is really important in books that affect me. I read for the writing. The story is usually of less interest… — James Salter Copy Share Image
Man was very fortunate to have invented the book. Without it, the past would completely vanish, and we would be left with… — James Salter Copy Share Image
It was not until I began to write a book called 'Light Years' that an editor really stepped in. The editor was… — James Salter Copy Share Image
Normally, what you’re envious of is a book, not a writer: standards, ideas, levels … almost nonexistent things. — James Salter Copy Share Image
My first book was published without any editorial advice. Nobody said, 'You might do this or that,' or 'Why don't we see… — James Salter Copy Share Image
The writing workshops and programs that are everywhere have encouraged writing. And if that produces more writing, it's also producing more readers… — James Salter Copy Share Image
Amplitude is a powerful quality in fiction. It results in involvement, in sympathy with the characters. After a while, a reader can't… — James Salter Copy Share Image
He liked to read with the silence and the golden color of the whiskey as his companions. He liked food, people, talk,… — James Salter Copy Share Image
When I'm filling notebooks I'm trying to pin down what I'm really interested in and to find those details that are so… — James Salter Copy Share Image
“...at a luncheon, I sat next to a green-eyed young woman, a poet, who declared loftily that you learned nothing from books,… — James Salter Copy Share Image
It seems to me that literature is giving way a little bit to the immediacy of other diversions, other forms of entertainment.… — James Salter Copy Share Image
Sometimes I write with a particular person in mind. I think it's fair to say that I write for a perceptive reader.… — James Salter Copy Share Image
You would have to be very optimistic to think that any of your books will be among the books that survive in… — James Salter Copy Share Image
To write? Because all this is going to vanish. The only thing left will be the prose and poems, the books, what… — James Salter Copy Share Image
A writer writes a book. People read it. You don't know what they're reading, really. You read a review and think, "That… — James Salter Copy Share Image
“Gertrude Stein, when asked why she wrote, replied "For praise." Lorca said he wrote to be loved. Faulkner said a writer wrote… — James Salter Copy Share Image
My ideal is a book that is perfect on every page, that gives you tremendous aesthetic joy on every page. I suppose… — James Salter Copy Share Image
I don't fear death. I'm not obsessed with it the way everybody else seems to be. It's wrong to say "everybody," but… — James Salter Copy Share Image
Like books you will never have the chance to read, there are languages you do not know, and you're not going to… — James Salter Copy Share Image
One is seduced and battered in turn. The result is presumably wisdom. Wisdom! We are clinging to life like lizards. Why is… — James Salter Copy Share Image
“Eve was tall. Her face had cheekbones. Her shoulders slumped when she walked. The shelves in her living room were bent beneath… — James Salter Copy Share Image
The book was in her lap; she had read no further. The power to change one’s life comes from a paragraph, a… — James Salter Copy Share Image
It seems to me that literature is giving way a little bit to the immediacy of other diversions, other forms of entertainment. What will… — James Salter Copy Share Image
Women fall in love when they get to know you. Men are just the opposite. When they finally know you they're ready to leave — James Salter Copy Share Image
I write in longhand. I am accustomed to that proximity, that feel of writing. Then I sit down and type. — James Salter Copy Share Image
A writer writes a book. People read it. You don't know what they're reading, really. You read a review and think, "That is so… — James Salter Copy Share Image
“Strauss’s, for instance, which begins in the heavens. The artist doesn’t ascend to glory, he appears in it, he already has it and the… — James Salter Copy Share Image
Normally, what you’re envious of is a book, not a writer: standards, ideas, levels … almost nonexistent things. — James Salter Copy Share Image
Sometimes I write with a particular person in mind. I think it's fair to say that I write for a perceptive reader. You have… — James Salter Copy Share Image
Lots of scripts are written and not made, even scripts that people want to make. — James Salter Copy Share Image
I'd given up everything to be a writer, and if I didn't then go on to do that - to write - then I… — James Salter Copy Share Image
“One should not believe too easily in a life which can easily vanish.” — James Salter Copy Share Image
“Life is separated by scars, like the rings in the inside of a tree.” — James Salter Copy Share Image
