I always hope that the artwork will complement and enrich a story.

People of different ethnicities are definitely not of differing species. Biologically speaking, people are people.

In Japan, it's strange to openly take credit for giving to charity or even to donate publicly.

I believe actual violence scars children much more than violence in storybooks.

I'd hasten to say that the prejudice in Dust City isn't completely analogous to racism in the real world.

Historical atrocities have certainly shown that dehumanizing any group is the first step toward genocide.

If some readers take away the idea that animals deserve better treatment in general, then I certainly won't argue.

I can't say I'm anything like a devoted animal rights activist, but I certainly oppose cruelty to animals.

Since I tend to write chronologically, the middle is always the place where the process is most taxing.

Destiny isn't immutable. You can change your fate. But I'd say the only way to do it is with hard, intelligent work and long-term dedication to a goal.

In medieval Europe, childbirth was a leading cause of death. So widowed fathers with children were quite common, meaning stepmothers were equally common.

Heaven is a place where you cannot change and nothing can ever happen, so the things you love are always eternal. Hell is exactly the same.

Any woman who says she's not a feminist is just someone who's afraid of being penalised for saying she wants to advocate for women.

If you want to drop off the face of the earth, just be an assistant coach.

It's hard to smoke a pipe, and it's actually kind of brutal. It burns your mouth and your throat, and to keep it lit.

I don't want any minister to pray for me. But if you want a minister there to pray for the crowd, I won't object.

I love Tom Wilkinson and Tommy Lee Jones as well as Jessica Chastain. But the person I look up to most, not because I identify with her roles but because of who she is as a person, is Sissy Spacek.

I guess the painkillers wipe out your memory along with your ethics.

The definition of S & M is letting someone hurt you that you know would never hurt you.

Improve quality, you automatically improve productivity.