Break the habit of negative thoughts and beliefs before they succeed in breaking you and your destiny.

Just in terms of allocation of time resources, religion is not very efficient. There's a lot more I could be doing on a Sunday morning.

I like situations that push a character to the edge.

Wicked people never have time for reading. It's one of the reasons for their wickedness.

Contradiction is the essence of the universe.

Truth will have no gods before it.- The belief in truth begins with the doubt of all truths in which one has previously believed.

Morale is the state of mind. It is steadfastness and courage and hope. It is confidence and zeal and loyalty. It is élan, esprit de corps and determination.

I do know that I need solitude, not only to write but to nourish myself (being, like most writers, an introvert) so that I do keep trying to write.

I think it's good that people value their bodies and take care of them. I think if you cross the line and begin using your body as an asset or as an extension of your vanity, you've gone too far.

Bin Laden was completely protected by the oil companies in this country who told [President] Bush not to go after him because it would piss off the Saudis.

Never judge a work of art by its defects.