James Salter

You would have to be very optimistic to think that any of your books will be among the books that survive in…

— James Salter

“The only light was a standing lamp by his chair, near his elbow was a drink. He liked to read with the…

— James Salter

In climbing, being first-rate is part of the whole enterprise. The important climbers want to be the first man up the mountain,…

— James Salter

My idea of writing is of unflinching and continual effort, somehow trying to find the right words until you reach a point…

— James Salter

“I can't explain it. It's what turns you to powder, being ground between what you can't do and what you must do.…

— James Salter

“You must go further than I did," Nedra said. "You know that." "Further?" "With your life. You must become free." She did…

— James Salter

The summer has ended. The garden withers. The mornings become chill. I am thirty, I am thirty-four -the years turn dry as…

— James Salter

There is no complete life. There are only fragments. We are born to have nothing, to have it pour through our hands.…

— James Salter

“...alone in this city, alone on this sea. The days were strewn about him, he was a drunkard of days. He had…

— James Salter

“He walks toward the river, placing his feet carefully. His suit is too warm and tight. He reaches the water’s edge. There…

— James Salter

I am afraid of him, of all men who are successful in love.

— James Salter

Age doesn't arrive slowly, it comes in a rush. One day nothing has changed, a week later, everything has. A week may…

— James Salter

One alters the past to form the future but there is a real significance to the pattern which finally appears, which resists…

— James Salter

“I am going to describe her life from the inside outward, from its core, the house as well, rooms in which life…

— James Salter

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

Dialogue's a method of revelation, of course. A few words of dialogue can reveal worlds about a character.

— James Salter

The writing is really important in books that affect me. I read for the writing. The story is usually of less interest…

— James Salter

Now they are lovers. The first, wild courses are ended. They have founded their domain. A satanic happiness follows.

— James Salter

To write? Because all this is going to vanish. The only thing left will be the prose and poems, the books, what…

— James Salter

“There is no complete life. There are only fragments. We are born to have nothing, to have it pour through our hands.”

— James Salter

I'm tired of my life, my clothes, the things I say. I'm hacking away at the surface, as at some kind of…

— James Salter

A light snow, a snow so faint and small-bodied that it seems nothing more than a manifestation of the cold.

— James Salter

“It’s ahead of us. All I can tell you is, not even courage will help.” “Are you reading Alma Mahler again?” “No.”…

— James Salter

Dresscodes are for styleless people.

— James Salter

In general, American life is more easy-going. And civic pride, national pride in a cultural sense, is great in America. I think…

— James Salter