Having no intercourse with anyone, she lived in the torpid state of a sleep-walker.

Being natural is one of the most irritating poses I know in people.

I love telling people what to read. It's my favorite thing in the world, to buy books and force books on people, take bad books away from people, give them better books.

Set exorbitant standards, and give your people hell when they don't live up to them. There is nothing so demoralizing as a boss who tolerates second rate work.

The only music I've ever written was for a film called Frank, and the idea was that it was the worst music in the world.

Lust's passion will be served; it demands, it militates, it tyrannizes.

Anything that keeps you happy and writing is part of my writing ritual: I like music, so I tend to have it playing in the background. But if I'm interested, I can write in an airport waiting areas.

Fights between individuals, as well as governments and nations, invariably result from misunderstandings in the broadest interpretation of this term.

For of all hard things to bear and grin, / The hardest is knowing you're taken in.

Washington, where an insignificant individual may trespass on a nation's time.

I'm a country guy from Mississippi who keeps it simple.