O. Henry Quotes, Real Quotes, Writing Quotes

Yes, I get dry spells. Sometimes I can't turn out a thing for three months. When one of those spells comes on I quit trying to work and go out and see something of life. You can't write a story that's got any life in it by sitting at a writing table and thinking. You've got to get out into the streets, into the crowds, talk with people, and feel the rush and throb of real life-that's the stimulant for a story writer.

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Tags : O. Henry Quotes , Real Quotes , Writing Quotes

My advice to you, if you should ever be in a hold up, is to line up with the cowards and save your bravery for an occasion when it may be of some benefit to you.

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Tags : O. Henry Quotes , Bravery Quotes , Advice Quotes

In the Big City a man will disappear with the suddenness and completeness of the flame of a candle that is blown out.

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Tags : O. Henry Quotes , Men Quotes , Flames Quotes

Beauty is Nature in perfection; circularity is its chief attribute. Behold the full moon, the enchanting golf ball, the domes of splendid temples, the huckleberry pie, the wedding ring, the circus ring, the ring for the waiter, and the "round" of drinks.

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Tags : O. Henry Quotes , Golf Quotes , Moon Quotes

I'll give you the whole secret to short story writing. Here it is. Rule 1: Write stories that please yourself. There is no Rule 2.

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Tags : O. Henry Quotes , Writing Quotes , Giving Quotes

There is one day that is ours. There is one day when all we Americans who are not self-made go back to the old home to eat saleratus biscuits and marvel how much nearer to the porch the old pump looks than it used to. Thanksgiving Day is the one day that is purely American.

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Tags : O. Henry Quotes , Thanksgiving Quotes , Home Quotes

We can't buy one minute of time with cash; if we could, rich people would live longer.

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Tags : O. Henry Quotes , People Quotes , Cash Quotes

She had become so thoroughly annealed into his life that she was like the air he breathed--necessary but scarcely noticed.

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The lonesomest thing in all the world is a soul when it is making ready to go on its mysterious, far journey.

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Tags : O. Henry Quotes , Journey Quotes , Soul Quotes

If man knew how women pass the time when they are alone, they'd never marry.

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Tags : O. Henry Quotes , Marriage Quotes , Men Quotes

No friendship is an accident.

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There is a saying that no man has tasted the full flavor of life until he has known poverty, love, and war.

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Tags : O. Henry Quotes , Life Quotes , War Quotes

Each of us, when our day's work is done, must seek our ideal, whether it be love or pinochle or lobster à la Newburg, or the sweet silence of the musty bookshelves.

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Tags : O. Henry Quotes , Sweet Quotes , Silence Quotes

A story with a moral appended is like the bill of a mosquito. It bores you, and then injects a stinging drop to irritate your conscience.

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Tags : O. Henry Quotes , Bores You Quotes , Mosquitoes Quotes

It ain't the roads we take; it's what's inside of us that makes us turn out the way we do.

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East is East, and West is San Francisco, according to Californians. Californians are a race of people; they are not merely inhabitants of a State.

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Bride knoweth bride at the glance of an eye. And between them swiftly passes comfort and meaning in a language that man and widows wot not of.

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She plucked from my lapel the invisible strand of lint (the universal act of woman to proclaim ownership).

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You'd think New York people was all wise; but no, they can't get a chance to learn. Every thing's too compressed. Even the hayseeds are bailed hayseeds. But what else can you expect from a town that's shut off from the world by the ocean on one side and New Jersey on the other?

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Tags : O. Henry Quotes , Wise Quotes , New York Quotes

All of us have to be prevaricators, hypocrites, and liars every day of our lives; otherwise the social structure would fall into pieces the first day. We must act in one another's presence just as we must wear clothes. It is for the best

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Tags : O. Henry Quotes , Liars Quotes , Fall Quotes