I begin by assembling notes on characters. Large swaths of the plot become clear to me as I do this.
The great recipe for success is to work, and always work.
Despotism and freedom of the press cannot exist together.
Great ability without discretion comes almost invariably to a tragic end
I write every day when I'm at home - trying to catch up with correspondence.
You think that your life is going to be one way, and then, for various reasons or whatever, it doesn't work out.
If you feel like an outsider, you tend to observe things a lot more.
It's like a bear stumbling into a beehive or a honey cache: I'm stumbling right into it and getting stuck, and it's delicious and it's horrible and I'm in it and it's not very graceful and it's very awkward and it's very painful and yet there's something inevitable about it.