I didn't read at all until I was 12. I just couldn't. It was too frustrating.

I collect things that just look retarded.

I had this whole ritual with my mother making the bed with me inside it so I would be invisible.

The way this whole novel thing came together was, I sold them one bill of goods and then didn't communicate very well. I am like Captain Run-on Sentence.

When we had to do book reports, I would pick a book that no one read and just make it up and turn that in. I got praised for my imagination.

My father would often work all night and sleep during the day, so for us, dinner might be pancakes, and breakfast might be beef stroganoff.

I've always wanted to have a book published - it was a dream of mine, but the thought of actually writing a book made me feel really sick.

I would ask my parents something, but then go to my siblings. We were encouraged to bounce ideas off everyone.

I think what my father appreciated was the science experiment of life. He had these kids, and they had their own experiences. He wanted us to discover the world for ourselves.

At 12 I dropped out of school but I had lost interest in it at a much earlier age. For me, school was very very stressful.

I definitely have managed to overcome dyslexia now to become a fully functional human being but things were a lot more difficult when I was younger.

The motives of mankind are plainer than the motions they produce.

That is fundamentally the only courage which is demanded of us: to be brave in the face of the strangest, most singular and most inexplicable things that can befall us

Why was I holding on to something that would never be mine? But isn't that what people do?

A man in loss is not a man to trust.

I'm only interested in Libya if we keep the oil. If we don't keep the oil, I'm not interested.

Better to toil blindly, beating every stone in turn for grains of gold, whether they contain any or not, than lie down in apathetic decay.

Crime is for poor people. You don't need to rob the bank if you own it.

There were two free public libraries within walking distance of my home; I remember taking six books home from every visit, the limit set by the library.

> CracKing: No need to yell. > FtLouie: I’m not yelling!!! > CracKing: You’re using excessive amounts of punctuation, and on-line, that’s like yelling.

My message to you all is hope, courage and confidence.