I tend to come up with people more than situations - most of my books start with a character.

In my day, we didn't have self-esteem, we had self-respect, and no more of it than we had earned.

You've either got to find a way to make your continuing characters interesting without making them maudlin or overwrought, or you've got to put more emphasis on the suspects.

Everybody is a True Believer. Everybody has a little nugget they're convinced of that is the opposite of the nugget on the other side. And they're convinced it's fact.

Knowledge pursued for its own sake - that's the definition of education, as opposed to training.

I was the executive editor on a little magazine called Greek Accent, whose only claim to fame is that its art director went on to be the art director of Discover for many years.

Nobody in real life ever takes me seriously.

I don't make my own schedule - it's constructed around my sons' school schedules.

Listen to advice. You don't know how many writer's conferences I've taught at where at least half the audience fights all the conventions of the field.

I've been a teacher at the college level, in composition mostly, and I've been an editor on magazines.

People always seemed to know half of history, and to get it confused with the other half.

The best vision is insight.

AI might be a powerful technology, but things won't get better simply by adding AI.

You have to have some kind of clarity or understanding of what's happening to write.

Who doesn't love a little Taylor Swift in their life? You know you need a little Taylor Swift in your life.

Love yourself and watch - Today, tomorrow, always. To straighten the crooked You must first do a harder thing - Straighten yourself.

Roused by the lash of his own stubborn tail our lion now will foreign foes assail.

It takes great labor to uncover the convincing simple speech of the heart. Poetic candor comes with hard labor, so even does impetuosity and impudence.

I'm a huge fan of Warner Brothers cartoons. I would spend many hours alone after school watching Daffy Duck. I think Daffy Duck is one of the great comedic villains.

There is no psychology; there is only biography and autobiography.

Gnarling sorrow hath less power to bite The man that mocks at it and sets it light.