“Write what you like; there is no other rule.” O. Henry

O. Henry, born in 1862, has his birthday this weekend. Still considered a master of the short story, he’s also known for his surprise endings—twists of fate that readers still marvel at. Some of his words of wisdom:

“It couldn’t have happened anywhere but in Little old New York.”

“The Venturer is one who keeps his eye on the hedgerows and wayside groves and meadows while he travels the road to Fortune.”

“We can’t buy one minute with cash; if we could, rich people would live longer.”

“Each of us, when our day’s work is done, must seek our ideal, whether it be love or pinochle or lobster a la Newburg, or the sweet silence of the musty bookshelves.”

“There are stories in everything. I’ve got some of my best yearns from park benches, lampposts, and newspaper stands.”

“No friendship is an accident.”

“In the Big City, a man will disappear with the suddenness and completeness of the flame of a candle that is blown out.”

“It ain’t the roads we take; it’s what’s inside of us that makes us turn out the way we do.”

“Yes, I get dry spells. Sometimes I can’t turn out a thing for three months. When one of those spells comes on I quit trying to work and go out and see something of life. You can’t write a story that’s got any life in it by sitting at a writing table and thinking. You’ve got to get out into the streets, into the crowds, talk with people, and feel the rush and throb of real life—that’s the stimulant for a story writer.”

“When one loves one’s Art no service seems too hard.”