I'd love to see a good script of one of my books, in these years of animations and comic book sequels, and had so many written over the years, but none quite clicked.

Like Richard Price and the late, great Elmore Leonard, Matt Burgess is one of those cool, quick and funny writers who can turn a seemingly routine crime caper into something special.

The greatest sin for a writer is to be boring.

The first rule of hurricane coverage is that every broadcast must begin with palm trees bending in the wind.

Sunset on the water ought to be a quiet and easy time, but I guess some people can't stand a little silence.

My escape is to just get in a boat and disappear on the water.

My driving record is not exemplary, but I have never had a speeding ticket over 100 m.p.h. I can say that unequivocally.

Disney's something to be a little alarmed about. It's not just a little theme park anymore. It's now an ethic and outlook and strategy that goes way beyond central Florida.

There is no writer's block in a newsroom. There's only unemployment block.

Unfortunately for novelists, real life is getting way too funny and far-fetched.

I've always enjoyed making people laugh. But in order for me to be funny, I have to get ticked off about something.

History is the nothing people write about a nothing.

I had no idea that mothering my own child would be so healing to my own sadness from my childhood.

I do respond well to a director, a teacher - someone who doesn't accept mediocrity.

Tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world.

Adolescents need freedom to choose, but not so much freedom that they cannot, in fact, make a choice.

If you buy the why, the how is infinitely bearable

I had stopped painting around 2000, which I guess was when the music thing started getting pretty busy. I just didn't have enough time to pursue it properly.

The highest summits and those elevated above the level of other things are mostly blasted by envy as by a thunderbolt.

Tattooing is my social life, too, so most of my time is taken up with that. People like Henry Lewis, Mike Davis at Everlasting Tattoo.

Books are delightful society. If you go into a room and find it full of books - even without taking them from the shelves they seem to speak to you, to bid you welcome.