"Your attack sentence is a provoking sentence; you then follow it with a series of provoking sentences." ( @gordonlishbot )

"Don't have stories; have sentences."

"Stick to simple, concrete objects. For instance, as an opening sentence, 'The table held a book,' is no great shakes, but think of where you could go from there. What you want, really, is an exorbitant opening sentence, a hook that hooks your reader to a line that could lead anywhere and everywhere."

"Opening a sentence, especially your attack sentence, with an adverb, adverbial clause, or prepositional phrase, this is a weak move."

"In your attack, which is, of course, your opening, present objects real, physical, tangible, visible — do not present the abstract. The abstract arises most naturally, most powerfully, and most subtly out of the presentation of the concrete."

"Stripping away the adjectives, those pretty, petty flourishes, this will make a more powerful piece of work."

"Betray your sentences when you're done with them. 'I'd never write that again.' Piss on the fire you started."

"You must expect the unworthy to get praised. You have to throw off your dependence on audience."

"Don't say it unless you could go to jail or die from it."

"The sentence is the womb, the prospect for infinity."

"I see the notion of talent as quite irrelevant. I see instead perseverance, application, industry, assiduity, will...desire."