I sell well now in Russia. I remember one signing in Russia some years ago where the bookstore had two strongmen to hold the crowds back.

A lot of us don't want to be quite that serious about world problems. Our life is there to enjoy, not to be an eternal dissident, eternally unhappy with how things are and with the state of mankind.

Action isn’t my forte. I’m an expert on contemplation and mild regret.

I've always thought of absurdism as a French fad I'd like to belong to.

Science fiction is very healthy in its form.

I'm quite influenced in this by one of my heroes, Montaigne, who thought a man's real task was to render as honest an account of himself as he could.

It is a truism throughout the civilized galaxy that when you go to the police, your troubles really begin.

I'm not too fond of the hard work and the constant battle with self-doubt that goes on when I write, but I figure that's part of the territory.

Once you find you can't walk as far and as fast as you were able, life becomes more complicated.

I'm not so interested any more in how a great deal of science fiction goes. It goes into things like Star Wars and Star Trek which all go excellent in their own way.

Ethical and questions of philosophy interest me a great deal.

A golden opportunity may turn into silver if you wait too long to take advantage of it.

It is a dangerous thing to unbelieve something only because it frightens you.

And in movies you must be a gambler. To produce films is to gamble.

Sometimes the challenge of beating the jet lag and getting a decent sleep can be as hard to solve as finding the right setup for the car!

I was nervous. I mean, I'd met the Beatles, and Elvis, and everybody, but this was Salvador Dalí . This was like my history.

My everyday job is about superficial beauty, but when I'm not working I prefer to work on my inner beauty - I read a lot, I try to learn.

Madame....gloatingly savored her words as earlier she had savored her pig's trotter.

Los Angeles, give me some of you! Los Angeles come to me the way I came to you, my feet over your streets, you pretty town I loved you so much, you sad flower in the sand, you pretty town!

There is a great tradition of independent filmmaking in the U.S. that I absolutely respect. There's some wonderful stuff that comes out in this country against all the odds.

Remember, social progress only happens when those in society's privileged classes choose to give up their status.