Willa Cather on the Art of Fiction

"Any first rate novel or story must have in it the strength of a dozen fairly good stories that have been sacrificed to it. A good workman can’t be a cheap workman; he can’t be stingy about wasting material, and he cannot compromise." 

http://www.everywritersresource.com/writingsense/2010/04/essay-on-the-art-of-fiction-by-willa-cather/