But with nonfiction, the task is very straightforward: Do the research, tell the story

This self-respect and sense of self-worth, the innermost armament of the soul, lies at the heart of humanness; to be deprived of it is to be dehumanized, to be cleaved from, and cast below, mankind.

People think I must have been turning cartwheels on the night I sealed the movie deal - which was only two days after sealing the book deal - but I was really quite terrified.

I think authors can get into trouble viewing the subject matter as their turf

It's easy to talk to a horse if you understand his language. Horses stay the same from the day they are born until the day they die. They are only changed by the way people treat them.

The paradox of vengefulness is that it makes men dependent upon those who have harmed them, believing that their release from pain will come only when their tormentors suffer.

For me, being a writer was never a choice. I was born one. All through my childhood I wrote short stories and stuffed them in drawers. I wrote on everything. I didn't do my homework so I could write

Without dignity, identity is erased. In its absence, men are defined not by themselves, but by their captors and the circumstances in which they are forced to live.

Without dignity, identity is erased.

I just thought I was empty and now I'm being filled...and I just wanted to keep being filled.

His books were the closest thing he had to furniture and he lived in them the way other men live in easy chairs.

What is important is not the specific manner in which God is worshiped but the degree to which the devotee is filled with love. (48-49)

It is not reputation, fame, success or religiosity that glorifies God, it's slavery.

... she was a pudding of immaturity and precocious wisdom that had not yet set into a stable mold.

I don't put a penny's value on this life if only our Lord will give me a tiny corner in Paradise.

We all talk to ourselves. A major key to success exists in what we say to ourselves, which helps to shape our attitude and mindset.

Believe it or not, I kind of went into professional wrestling so I could get an avenue into acting.

I love being around people that contribute. It doesn't matter where the good idea comes from. A good idea is a good idea.

I want a baby and I want a family, for sure.

~Wyatt [my adopted son] is definitely all mine. Little souls find their way to you whether they're from your womb or someone else's.~

God's voice had been reduced to paper, and even that paper had to be moderated and deciphered by the proper authorities and intellect.