Irwin Shaw Quotes

There are too many books I haven't read, too many places I haven't seen, too many memories I haven't kept long enough.

I cringe when critics say I'm a master of the popular novel. What's an unpopular novel?

An absolutely necessary part of a writer's equipment, almost as necessary as talent, is the ability to stand up under punishment, both the punishment the world hands out and the punishment he inflicts upon himself.

I never drink while I'm working, but after a few glasses I get ideas that would never have occurred to me dead sober.

If football players were armed with guns, there wouldn't be stadiums large enough to hold the crowds.

Critics in New York are made by their dislikes, not by their enthusiasms.