I'm actually a softie. Tough guys get killed too early... I've got a full head of hair and don't wear eyeglasses.

The first chapter sells the book; the last chapter sells the next book.

The most important part of a story is the ending. No one reads a book to get to the middle.

Inspiration is an empty bank account.

Mike Hammer drinks beer because I can't spell Cognac.

Nobody reads a book to get to the middle.

If the public likes you, you're good. Shakespeare was a common, down-to-earth writer in his day.

Those big-shot writers ... could never dig the fact that there are more salted peanuts consumed than caviar.

I have no fans. You know what I got? Customers. And customers are your friends.

If I need something, I'll invent it.

I dont like any of them, because they don't read the books. In Kiss Me Deadly my story is better than his story. Anthony Quinn played in The Lond Wait and he didn't read the book either.

The practice of perfect virtue does not require teaching, but instructs others.

Acting requires a lot of discipline to go with the obsession. It's a path of knowledge, and of self-knowledge. Sometimes you get lost on the path. And then you find yourself again.

Art history is always changing too.

The affections are the children of ignorance; when the horizon of our experience expands, and models multiply, love and admiration imperceptibly vanish.

I was aware of the risks I was taking, but I did'nt care.

For me what was very important was to try to capture the essence that might have existed behind the myth, the human essence of the character.

Greed is merely a species of nearsightedness.

Practice is the battle you must win.

So many young people feel powerless. We live in a world where it feels like it's so big and yet so small, and that your contribution really doesn't matter.

You can only have lasting peace based on justice.