An age is called Dark not because the light fails to shine, but because people refuse to see it.
James A. Michener

Character consists of what you do on the third and fourth tries.
James A. Michener

For this is the journey that men and women make, to find themselves. If they fail in this, it doesn't matter much else what they find.
James A. Michener

I love writing. I love the swirl and swing of words as they tangle with human emotions.
James A. Michener

I think the crucial thing in the writing career is to find what you want to do and how you fit in. What somebody else does is of no concern whatever except as an interesting variation.
James A. Michener

I was a Navy officer writing about Navy problems and I simply stole this lovely Army nurse and popped her into a Navy uniform, where she has done very well for herself.
James A. Michener

I was brought up in the great tradition of the late nineteenth century: that a writer never complains, never explains and never disdains.
James A. Michener

I'm not a very good writer, but I'm an excellent rewriter.
James A. Michener

If a man happens to find himself, he has a mansion which he can inhabit with dignity all the days of his life.
James A. Michener

If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion and avoid the people, you might better stay at home.
James A. Michener


It takes courage to know when you ought to be afraid.
James A. Michener

Russia, France, Germany and China. They revere their writers. America is still a frontier country that almost shudders at the idea of creative expression.
James A. Michener

Scientists dream about doing great things. Engineers do them.
James A. Michener

The arrogance of the artist is a very profound thing, and it fortifies you.
James A. Michener

The permanent temptation of life is to confuse dreams with reality. The permanent defeat of life comes when dreams are surrendered to reality.
James A. Michener

The really great writers are people like Emily Bronte who sit in a room and write out of their limited experience and unlimited imagination.
James A. Michener

There are no insoluble problems. Only time-consuming ones.
James A. Michener

They were a group of two dozen nurses completely surrounded by 100,000 unattached American men.
James A. Michener