A lot of writers that I know have told me that the first book you write, you write about your childhood, whether you want to or not. It calls you back.

I grew up in Cyprus and Egypt, these fantastic places I remember fondly.

I do no writing while I'm in Belgrade visiting my grandma.

For me it was a lot harder to come to terms with the death of my grandfather than it was to come to terms with what's happened to the former Yugoslavia.

The best fiction stays with you and changes you.

My grandfather and I were very close.

A family has its own rituals and its own superstitions.

Come on, is your heart a sponge or a fist?

We're all entitled to our superstitions.

My mother always says that fear and pain are immediate, and that, when they're gone we're left with the concept, but not the true memory.

I've always written about animals. I'm still trying to process why that is.

As for writing, that's a cruel hard business. Unless you're very lucky it'll break your heart.

You must not demand the failure of your peers, because the more good things that are around in film, in television, in theater - why the better it is for all of us.

It's very satisfying to promote science and education and see good results. Setting a good example for young people, being a role model, is very important for me.

She spilled whiskey on her shirt, she gon have to get it cleaned. She been going way to hard, someone has to intervene.

One should not go into churches if one wants to breathe pure air.

I don t wanna see old people on a rock & roll stage.

I've lectured at Stanford, Princeton & Harvard to name a few... I just might be smarter than YOU

I don't want to be labeled as either a pansy or a heterosexual. Labeling is so self-limiting. We are what we do - not what we say we are.

If you want a friend, you don't buy a friend, Eric, you earn a friend through love and trust and respect.

You always have to be ahead of the audience so that they have to always catch up and know the movie's not quite going exactly where you think it's going, or expecting it to be going.