Fear tends to manifest itself much more quickly than greed, so volatile markets tend to be on the downside. In up markets, volatility tends to gradually decline.

The road to hell is paved with works-in-progress.

I cannot and do not live in the world of discretion, not as a writer, anyway. I would prefer to, I assure you - it would make life easier. But discretion is, unfortunately, not for novelists.

He had learned the worst lesson that life can teach - that it makes no sense.

You can no more make someone tell the truth than you can force someone to love you.

Old age isn't a battle; old age is a massacre.

The horror of being caged has lost its thrill.

Everybody else is working to change, persuade, tempt and control them. The best readers come to fiction to be free of all that noise.

I have a slogan I use when I get anxious writing, which happens quite a bit: ‘the ordeal is part of the commitment.’ It’s one of my mantras. It makes a lot of things doable.

When the whole world doesn't believe in God, it'll be a great place.

Because that is when you love somebody - when you see them being game in the face of the worst. Not courageous. Not heroic. Just game.

I am a Freedom Seeker and I choose to feel free.

When I am dying, I should like my life taken out under general anaesthetic, exactly as if it were a diseased appendix.

A man who finds no satisfaction in himself seeks for it in vain elsewhere.

Being a pumpkinhead is great.""Your HEAD is a PUMPKIN.

He that fails in his endeavors after wealth or power will not long retain either honesty or courage.

Problems can be experienced as... a chance for renewal rather than stress.

We seem to have trouble with [critical thinking]. And our political system doesn't help.

Whenever you talk about writing I think you have to remember that it all has a big question mark over it - every word has a big question mark over it.

It's fair to say that, for much of my lifetime, New Zealand certainly was a property-owning democracy and working people, ordinary people, had assets.

You grow up and share life experiences. That's one of the best parts of this business. You share how you're mellowing out and your new sense of self.