For this is the journey that men and women make, to find themselves. If they fail in this, it doesn't matter much else what they find.

I love writing. I love the swirl and swing of words as they tangle with human emotions.

Character consists of what you do on the third and fourth tries.

Don't put off for tomorrow what you can do today because if you enjoy it today, you can do it again tomorrow.

The really great writers are people like Emily Brontë who sit in a room and write out of their limited experience and unlimited imagination.

Scientists dream about doing great things. Engineers do them.

I have never thought of myself as a good writer. Anyone who wants reassurance of that should read one of my first drafts. But I'm one of the world's great rewriters.

I'm not a very good writer, but I'm an excellent rewriter.

If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion and avoid the people, you might better stay home.

If your book doesn't keep you up nights when you are writing it, it won't keep anyone up nights reading it.

An age is called Dark not because the light fails to shine, but because people refuse to see it.

We will need to find people who will provide a safe writing space for us, where criticism comes late and love and delight come early.—from Rumors of Water: Thoughts on Creativity & Writing

If horse racing is the sport of kings, then drag racing must be the sport of queens.

The problem is that the people with the most ridiculous ideas are always the people who are most certain of them.

Australia has a thing where apparently it's fine for me to dress up as an Asian woman. No one has questioned that.

But the way to wealth through the quill seems long.

I prefer, and it turns out to be the truth, that I always have in my movies an ensemble of actors, but not just one individual doing the whole movie.

I've missed you, Ella May

I've come to the conclusion that it's not really possible to help others.

I wasn't a predator. I didn't pick on other people all right, but people didn't beat me up.

It isn't a band. It's bigger than a band. It's a lifestyle