James Salter

You write for glory. You play for glory. There's an ambition to excel, isn't there, to be a star? To score more,…

— James Salter

Being somebody: it's one of the ideas in life, no? That's what my father made clear to me. The importance of being…

— James Salter

I don't hold myself dictated to by what everyone is saying, by the tabloids or popular opinion. I don't like bourgeois values.…

— James Salter

“The heart is in darkness, unknowing, like those animals in mines that have never seen the day. It has no loyalties, no…

— 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

I write down portions, maybe fragments, and perhaps an imperfect view of what Im hoping to write. Out of that, I keep…

— James Salter

“The freedom she meant was self-conquest. It was not a natural state. It was meant only for those who would risk everything…

— James Salter

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

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

There is no situation like the open road, and seeing things completely afresh. I'm used to traveling. It's not a question of…

— James Salter

“He was reaching that age, he was at the edge of it, when the world becomes suddenly more beautiful, when it reveals…

— James Salter

Certain things I remember exactly as they were. They are merely discolored a bit by time, like coins in the pocket of…

— James Salter

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

I like aristocracy. I like the beauty of aristocracy. I like the hierarchical feeling.You could claim that it's due to my military…

— James Salter

Your parents are the parents you know best. Your brother and sister, if you have them, are the brother and sister you…

— 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

God is the God of the people who are at their wits end, who are right up against it with their backs…

— James Salter

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

“Suddenly I like him. Cristina can't take her eyes away. She asks when he was born, and it turns out he's a…

— James Salter

They are travelling cheaply, with that touch of indolence and occasional luxury that comes only from having real resources. They live in…

— James Salter

My ideal is a book that is perfect on every page, that gives you tremendous aesthetic joy on every page. I suppose…

— James Salter

Sometimes you are aware when your great moments are happening, and sometimes they rise from the past. Perhaps it's the same with…

— James Salter

But that isn't my life. I have said many times I don't want to be considered one who once flew fighters. That's…

— James Salter

There comes a time when you realize that everything is a dream, and only those things preserved in writing have any possibility…

— 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

A film writer is very much like a party girl. While you're good-looking and still unlined, the possibilities seem endless. But your…

— James Salter

“Jivan: You think when you have love that love is easy to find, that everyone has it. It's not true. It's very…

— James Salter

“Life is contemptuous of knowledge; it forces it to sit in the anterooms, to wait outside. Passion, energy, lies: these are what…

— James Salter

“THERE ARE THINGS I LOVE ABOUT marriage. I love the familiarity of it,” Nedra said. “It’s like a tattoo. You wanted it…

— James Salter

You lived and died alone, especially in fighters. Fighters. Somehow, despite everything, that word had not become sterile. You slipped into the…

— 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

“England? The worst of all. You know, I do some business there, I have friends in England. Their flats are broken into…

— James Salter

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

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

— 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

“Summer mornings, the light of the world pouring in and the silence. It was a barefoot life, the cool of the night…

— James Salter