A thriller becomes great when it carries a feeling of reality and truth.

" ... What if?" Through the alchemy of those two words, something new comes into the world.

When I teach writing, I have a mantra: Be a first-rate version of yourself, and not a second-rate version of another writer.

His name was Rambo, and he was just some nothing kid for all anybody knew, standing by the pump of a gas station at the outskirts of Madison, Kentucky.

One generation's idea of fast pace might be different from a later generation's.

There are no inferior types of fiction, only inferior practitioners of them.

As long as thriller authors teach us about our world, they'll be relevant.

Your obligation as writers is to distinguish yourself. … The ultimate result should be a book that you write that no one else could have written.

At their best, thrillers not only entertain. Ideally they also reflect the society in which they are set, analyzing our fears and how we perceive the world.

A thriller must be thrilling. A mystery may or may not be a thriller depending on how much breathless emotion it has, as opposed to cerebral calculation.

People who know various movie versions don't really know the story.

A thousand truths can be assembled in such a way as to create a colossal lie.

Go away. I hate everyone right now, and I'm pretty sure that includes you.

To Be Trained Is To Accomplish The Discovered Goal

The day will come when the man at the telephone will be able to see the distant person to whom he is speaking.

The European Union that emerges from the Eurozone crisis is going to be a very different body. It will be transformed perhaps beyond recognition by the measures needed to save the Eurozone.

Our lives have a countdown clock that we can't see. Mine reminds me to only do work that matters.

I had reconciled myself to being happily out to pasture, a bit.

Thinking is the problem. Thinking is hazardous to your progress in life. Don't think - feel.

Go, stranger, and tell the Lacedaemonians that here we lie, obedient to their commands.

Jim Carrey can do anything he wants, right? There are guys like that. I'm not one of those guys, so my career has been cobbled together with what the universe has put in front of me.