I started to write about science and medicine at the Washington Post, in the early days of the AIDS epidemic.

Benjamin Franklin refused to have one of his children vaccinated against smallpox. The four-year-old boy died, and Franklin wrote later of how mistaken he was to expose him to the needless risk.

I think it is true that you can eat extremely healthy food at McDonald's, and you can eat amazingly badly at Chipotle.

Daily vitamins are of no value.

People wrap themselves in their beliefs. And they do it in such a way that you can't set them free. Not even the truth will set them free.

Your dollar cheeseburger isn't a dollar if you factor in what it's going to cost in health care.

I understand the horrors of having no insurance, but, believe me, eight hours of sleep and good meals are NOT going to prevent you from getting sick. Don't gamble with your life; it's a stupid bet.

In the Internet age, with the screaming on the radio, etc., it is hard to know what to believe and who is informed and who is not.

I have never earned one penny from any pharmaceutical company. I will never accept one penny from them either. Ever.

It is not possible to assert publicly that Monsanto is anything other than venal without being accused of being a sellout, a fraud, or worse.

There are always potential side effects for every vaccine.

There's one way to find out if a man is honest - ask him. If he says, 'Yes,' you know he is a crook.

Many readers judge of the power of a book by the shock it gives their feelings.

Nothing is complete and thus nothing is exempt from criticism.

I can show you how to box. I can teach you every technique and trick I know, but I can never make you a fighter. That comes from inside, and it's something no one else can ever give you.

Then we should find some artificial inoculation against love, as with smallpox.

To me, everything happening inside of us is political.

You can go to Japan, China, all the European, African, Arab, and South American countries, and man, they know me. I can't name a nation where they don't know me.

I write because I can't imagine not writing.

Evvy: "Is she going to eat Jooba-hooba? She looks like she's going to bite him, at least." Briar: "No — if she bit him, he'd die.

One of the things I try to be very careful of is not taking a movie when I know I have no inspiration left.