American - Novelist | June 10, 1925 - June 19, 2015
I spent the night on a sliver of rock high up on the east face of Long's Peak, climbing with Tom Frost, and slept at the icy feet of the Dru, listening to the lightning crack above me and the thunder roll down. I only did it to write about it. I would never go up on the Grotto Wall for fun.
James Salter
FunMeListeningNightFeetFace
I sometimes say that I don't make anything up - obviously that's not true. But I am uninterested in writers who say that everything comes out of the imagination. I would rather be in a room with someone who is telling the story of his life, which may be exaggerated and even have lies in it, but I want to hear the true story, essentially.
LifeImaginationI AmStorySomeone
I like aristocracy. I like the beauty of aristocracy. I like the hierarchical feeling.
BeautyFeelingLikeAristocracy
The deepest instinct is to want to do something enduring, something worthwhile, and to be engaged by that, whether one achieves it or not.
WantDeepestSomethingWorthwhile
I write down portions, maybe fragments, and perhaps an imperfect view of what I'm hoping to write. Out of that, I keep trying to find exactly what I want.
ViewTryingFindDownWantWrite
I write in longhand. I am accustomed to that proximity, that feel of writing. Then I sit down and type.
I AmWritingFeelDownWriteSit
In a certain sense, a writer is an exile, an outsider, always reporting on things, and it is part of his life to keep on the move. Travel is natural.
LifeTravelAlwaysOutsiderThings
On the Internet, everyone is writing. There is a great flowering of writing.
GreatWritingInternetEveryone
I always knew writing a novel was a great thing.
GreatWritingAlwaysGreat Thing
West Pointers tend to be rigorously honest - more than necessary, in my view.
ViewMoreHonestWestNecessary
I don't fear death. I'm not obsessed with it the way everybody else seems to be.
FearDeathWaySeemsEverybodyElse
Every nation feels itself to be superior, but in America it's a jaunty feeling, and in some cases a rather ominous one among the super-patriots.
AmericaFeelingNationSuperiorSome
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