I am a natural optimist but there were times when (it seemed like) I was doing nothing but adding up on the back of envelope what I had to pay this month.

If you want to be happy for life, love what you do.

The truth is I hate cocktail parties when the only person I know is my supposed date, and he abandons me the minute we come in the door.

When someone is mean to me, I just make them a victim in my next book.

The flame of inspiration needs to be encouraged. Put a glass around that small candle and protect it from discouragement or ridicule.

Writing is storytelling. No matter how you slice it, you're saying, 'Once upon a time.' That's what writing is all about.

Happines is like mercury. Hard to hold, and when we drop it, it shatters into a million pieces. Maybe the bravest of all are those who have the courage to reach for it again.

live your life as if you may lose everything.

Approach your lives as if they were novels, with their own heroes, villains, red herrings, and triumphs.

The first four months of writing the book, my mental image is scratching with my hands through granite. My other image is pushing a train up the mountain, and it's icy, and I'm in bare feet.

A library is a path to the future--find yours there.

The element of craftsmanship in poetry is obscured by the fact that all men are taught to speak and most to read and write, while very few men are taught to draw or paint or write music.

There was such glittering darkness in her, an endless rift straight through her core

Shakespeare's plays are more violent than 'Scarface.'

I have a Twitter and have followers from all over the world. It's pretty overwhelming.

I seldom was ever off my seat on the bench during the game.

It's an odd thing about this universe that, though we all disagree with each other, we are all of us always in the right.

Competition is the law of the jungle, but cooperation is the law of civilization

Free speech in Bangladesh can get you killed

You know, with your money and my brains, I mean, there's no telling how far we'd go.

Looking for love is like asking for a new point of departure ... another chance in life.