At 50 I find there is a long line of characters and shapes demanding words just outside my window.

Don't classify me, read me. I'm a writer, not a genre.

Recognize yourself in he and she who are not like you and me.

Writing is a struggle against silence.

The United States has written the white history of the United States. It now needs to write the black, Latino, Indian, Asian and Caribbean history of the United States.

Art gives life to what history killed. Art gives voice to what history denied, silenced, or persecuted. Art brings truth to the lies of history.

I need, therefore I imagine.

One wants to tell a story, like Scheherezade, in order not to die. It's one of the oldest urges in mankind. It's a way of stalling death.

What's happened at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq is one of the grossest violations of human rights under the Geneva Conventions that we have record of. It is simply monstrous.

Literature overtakes history, for literature gives you more than one life. It expands experience and opens new opportunities to readers.

You start by writing to live. You end by writing so as not to die.

I was transformed the dayMy ego shattered, And all the superficial, materialThings that matteredTo me before, Suddenly ceasedTo matter.

Writer. Another word for poor.

It's funny to see the finished product of a movie, stuff that's so beautiful, and to remember the particulars.

For me, the key is always trying to find the connection between the audience and the character I'm playing. That's important to me, in any work I do.

I think a successful adaptation rises or falls on the work presented. If people need to read the book to understand the play, I didn't complete the job.

A businessman who reads Business Week is lost to fame. One who reads Proust is marked for greatness.

I know change can be painful. But from change comes growth.

I had a whole Scottish existence until we moved to London when I was four.

We can see a man smiling without legs or without hands, but we can't see a man smiling without hope!

Alas, the very name of picture produces a sadness of heart I cannot describe.