Every writer presently alive wishes to do the same.

41. Okay. Playback, his last book, really was pretty bad. On the other hand, after it he began a book in which Palm Springs was renamed "Poodle Springs."

42. He once described his character as "an unbecoming mixture of outer diffidence and inward arrogance."

43. He wrote Helga Green's father, Maurice Guinness, that ".. when a writer writes a book, he takes nothing from anyone. He adds to what exists... There is never enough good writing to go around."

44. He never complained about his endless torment.

45. Writing to Lucky Luciano in preparation for an interview never published, he said, "I suppose we are both sinners in the sight of the Lord.".