To literary critics a book is assumed to be guilty until it proves itself innocent. - Nelson Algren
I am the penny whistle of American literature. - Nelson Algren
You can't be a good writer in the States anymore because to be a good one you have to have a country where you can be poor and still eat, and still make your living standard secondary to your writing. Thoreau himself couldn't do that in the States today. - Nelson Algren
Never play cards with a man called Doc. Never eat at a place called Mom's. Never sleep with a woman whose troubles are worse than your own. - Nelson Algren