I assemble stories-me and a hundred million other people-at the sentence level. Not by coming up with a sweeping story line.

Just because you have stopped sinking doesn't mean you're not still underwater.

We can only die in the future, I thought; right now we are always alive.

Sometimes a flat-footed sentence is what serves, so you don't get all writerly: 'He opened the door.' There, it's open.

They say the smart dog obeys but the smarter dog knows when to disobey.

Good leaders being scarce, following yourself is allowed.

Wear your heart on the page, and people will read to find out how you solved being alive.

In my head there's a broken balcony I fall off of when I speak.

if it's true your life flashes past your eyes before you die, then it is also the truth that your life rushes forth when you are ready to start to truly be alive.

I sleep with a glass of water on the nightstand so I can see by its level if the coastal earth is trembling or if the shaking is still me.

I want to know everything about you, so I tell you everything about myself.

The greatest gifts are those that say, “I know you”.

If I didn’t have a job, I might have stayed in bed until I rotted.

Music is a thing that changes people's lives. It has the capacity to make young people's lives better.

My hobby (politics) has become my life. I have the greatest life imaginable. I think I have a greater life than anyone in the universe, in fact.

At any given moment, public opinion is a chaos of superstition, misinformation, and prejudice.

I can do a reddish-brown or brown lip, but not a bright red. I just don't look good in it. Over the years you learn certain things that don't look good on you, and that's one of them for me.

I never know what I'm going to do for the Post next. Two weeks ago I had a piece on Homeland Security. This is one of my pig ongoing projects. How unprepared we are for a terrorist attack.

When he reached the New World, Cortés burned his ships. As a result his crew was well-motivated.

I was born and raised in Los Angeles. I split my time between the West Coast and the East.

I fear other actors who are not prepared. And I fear directors who are afraid.