I always thought the appeal for vampires are the same as religion, the desire to avoid death and live forever.

Real life ... it was an ambiguous world, where actions sometimes had no meaning, where chaos reigned and no one was allowed to see the big picture, only their small portion of it.

Life is short. Eternity is long.

There were shadows galore in the dim light, but there was one shadow that did not correspond to any object in the room. It lurked next to the fireplace, a formless, undulating darkness.

Murder is an inherently evil act, no matter what the circumstances, no matter how convincing the rationalizations.

Hope was a dangerous emotion that more often than not led men into foolishness and peril, made them risk their lives and lose their wives and part with fortunes that they never recovered.

Names have power. In certain cultures, just speaking a man's name gives you mastery over him.

Horror writers can write about everything in the real world that a mainstream novelist can--plus the supernatural, which is the most fertile field for metaphor imaginable.

In real life, good people die all the time and a**holes can live long and happy lives. It's a crapshoot.

Real life was messier than fiction, and in it you didn't always have time to do or say the right things.

I think the internet is a great marketing tool--but marketing is not my job. I'm a writer. My job is to write novels.

Your old men shall dream dreams your young men shall see visions.

Many a humble soul will be amazed to find that the seed it sowed in weakness in the dust of daily life has blossomed into immortal flowers under the eye of the Lord.

For a time in high school, I had glasses, braces, and a cast. I like to call this look 'no date for homecoming.'

On a recent survey, 80 percent of golfers admitted cheating. The other 20 percent lied.

How could you deal with a creature as devious as woman.

The only things that were available to me were either be a laborer or be a drug dealer. So I became an armed robber. It was a lot simpler.

In the early 1990s, I briefly got involved in Italian politics. But that intermezzo lasted just two years and had little success. I also found politics emotionally empty.

I don't like the way some actors, when playing a nasty character, will try to grab hold of something good about them.

I always sing them as though they are autobiographical, even if they're not, and most of my songs do come from something about me.

Playing golf is like eating. It's something which has to come naturally.