My trouble was I had a mind but I couldn't make it up!

It takes me six months to do a story. I think it out and then write it sentence by sentence—no first draft. I can't write five words but that I change seven.

It is astonishing what an effort it seems to be for many people to put their brains definitely and systematically to work.

I'm just thinking too fast — much too fast.

Once I make up my mind, I'm full of indecision.

Writing letters with me is not a thing that can be done at odd scraps of time. I must sit down, compose myself & collect all of my thoughts.

Simple it's not, I'm afraid you will find, for a mind maker-upper to make up his mind

I have never felt that I had a thought too profound for others to understand. On the contrary, it always seemed to me axiomatic that what was clear to me should be clear and easy to everyone else. This despite the fact that it often took me years to grope my way to an idea.... I can spend days and even months on a single sentence. I do not know how to skip. To think and write with me is like putting brick on brick.

What is mind? A heap of thoughts.

Most of the time, because of their failure to fasten on to words, my thoughts remain misty and nebulous. They assume vague, amusing shapes and are then swallowed up: I promptly forget them.

It usually takes me two or three days to prepare an impromptu speech.

I learned to make my mind large, as the universe is large, so that there is room for paradoxes. (p29)

A peculiar feature – no doubt a weakness – of my mental make-up is that I find it difficult to concentrate twice on the same subject.

Waiting is thinking, and to think deeply is, very often, to change one’s mind.