A lot of novels use crime as a stepping stone to talk about greater issues. So I just think of myself as a writer.

You can take my heart, but I can't let you take my dog.

Don't try to follow in my footsteps. Make your own footsteps! No one else can tell the stories that are inside of you except for you.

Keeping libraries open, giving access to all children to all books is vital to our nation's sovereignty.

I never felt isolated; I just liked being alone. I think that some people are good at being alone, and some people arent, and as a child, I really liked it.

Reading is not just an escape. It is access to a better way of life.

Everybody had something horrible happen to them at one time or another in their life.

[On men:] ... you never know what they're like until you get them home and take them out of their packages.

As a Southerner, I love obstacles for my characters.

Everyone had a reason for everything they did, even if that reason was sometimes stupidity.

You didn't realize what was passing you by until you slowed down a little bit to get a better look.

Cheating on self, is a paralysis of being.

Boys are marvellous creatures. Perhaps they will sink below the brutes

All that is good in art is the expression of one soul talking to another and is precious according to the greatness of the soul that utters it.

Order my footsteps by Thy Word and make my heart sincere; let sin have no dominion, Lord, but keep my conscience clear.

It is more profitable for your congressman to support the tobacco industry than your life.

The big show is inside my head.

It's no good talking to a man with an apology for a brain.

You know, this is a business where only 15% make a living wage and only 9% of those are women. But I figured somebody has to be that 15%, somebody's got to be one of those women.

The earth is attempting to rid itself of an infection by human parasite.

Intellectual beauty is sufficient unto itself, and only for it rather than for the future good of humanity does the scholar condemn himself to arduous and painful labors.