For a successful writer, the secret is to have many irons in the fire. Write the next thing.

When a new writer comes onto a project, he'll make wholesale changes just to mark the territory or for greater credit.

I never stopped loving the deeper sciences, and I read as deeply into lay science as I can.

I try to keep up, and the scientific perspective is always part of my creative approach.

I'd wanted to be a writer since I was knee-high. Once I knew that books were written by people and didn't just happen, it was obviously that I would write them, too.

Directing offers you the hope that your vision will reach the screen, unmolested and intact. Therefore, it's tantalizing to all writers.

It is true that, with TV, a writer gets a great deal more respect.

You don't control whether your movies get made. You can't. All you can control is whether your draft is great. So, you write your great draft, as best as you can, and then move on to the next thing.

Making the right choices on the worlds we explore is going to be our biggest challenge.

I mean that much more than wiser beings from beyond the stars bringing us enlightenment or death or salvation, we are likely to find ourselves the wisest beings on the scene.

The world may hold startling developments and shocking unknowns.

My grandfather was a Pentecostal preacher. It was a sin to even pluck your eyebrows, and they thought it was a sin for me to be there looking like Jezebel.

Is this the life you really want? Or is it just the fantasy of it?

Experts say that if we go to war with Iraq, oil could reach as much as $80 a barrel. Of course, after the war it will be free.

You think publishing is tough but the music world is ten times tougher.

I find doing speeches nerve wrecking.

Bargain... anything a customer thinks a store is losing money on.

The awful thing about a conductor becoming geriatric is that you seem to become more desirable, not less.

It was tough doing 'Underneath the Lintel' in New Jersey in the wintertime, but rewarding. Those audiences were lively and interactive. On-stage was great, but off-stage was difficult.

Some days, I'm as shallow as a baking pan, but I still stretch miles in all directions.

I try not to focus on fame; I don't even really know what it means exactly because it's so fleeting.