...peace of mind: Thou shalt have it only, the answer seemed to come to me, when thou has ceased to desire it. - William Somerset Maugham

It's no good crying over spilt milk, because all the forces of the universe were bent on spilling it.

We do not write because we want to; we write because we have to.

As we grow older we become more conscious of the complexity, incoherence, and unreasonableness of human beings; this indeed is the only excuse that offers for the middle-aged or elderly writer, whose thoughts should more properly be turned to graver matters, occupying himself with the trivial concerns of imaginary people. For if the proper study of mankind is man it is evidently more sensible to occupy yourself with the coherent, substantial, and significant creatures of fiction than with the irrational and shadowy figures of real life.