I have been sometimes way too attracted by my own villains because in a way they seem to hold the secret to the heart of the narrative.

I generally wade in blind and trust to fate and instinct to see me through.

Fear and I were old buddies, despite my best efforts to the contrary.

Intellectual labor is a common technique for the avoidance of thinking.

The world is full of ghosts, and some of them are still people.

What was the worst thing you've ever done? I won't tell you that, but I'll tell you the worst thing that ever happened to me...the most dreadful thing.

My first real breakthrough collided with the last months of Callaghan's Labour government, which had every intention of enjoying my success as much as I did.

Occasionally.. .what you have to do is go back to the beginning and see everything in a new way.

If I planned everything out in advance, I'd expire of boredom.

An average working day begins at 8 or 9 am, includes an hour for lunch, and ends at 5 or 6 pm.

I had a connoisseur's... appreciation of fear.

The fish don't need to know why they're in the water.

A meaningful apology is one that communicates three R's: regret, responsibility, and remedy.

All gardeners live in beautiful places because they make them so.

I'm Chinese-American, of course, and so it's very interesting to see China actually launch their own astronauts, becoming the third nation, following the United States and Russia, to do so.

If you intend to go to work there is no better place than right where you are; if you do not intend to go to work, you can not get along anywhere.

You want to be the best at your position. And if people think of me as one of the best ever, that's the ultimate compliment.

The final weapon is the brain, all else is supplemental.

The part that's difficult is being single, at 41, after 10 years of marriage and two kids. That's like having a bunch of money in a currency of a country that doesn't exist anymore.

Animals can seem more pure. Without complication, I mean, animals are selfless. What animals do for us, they do out of instinct.

Do you ever have a day like that, where you just look back and you're like 'why did today happen?'