I tended to write the book in these bursts of two or three months at a time. So I would know, or at least feel securely, that for the next few months I was at least going to have a few hours a day.

People thought becoming an adult meant that all your acts had consequences; in fact it was just the opposite.

To my parents, writing seemed precarious and not the best idea.

I'm just kind of really interested in athletes as artists of a pretty serious variety and people who devote themselves to what they do in a really incredible way.

You don't have to even see the common man anymore if you don't want to! Only through the telescope on your yacht.

It was strange the way he loved her; a side long and almost casual love, as if loving her were simply a matter of course, too natural to mention.

It's very hard right now to be a pro sports fan. The economics of this stuff is abysmal.

... people loved to suffer, as long as the suffering made sense. Everybody suffered. The key was to choose the form of your suffering.

I play American football every Saturday, which I find calming.

Most writers, most books, you have no idea whether it was a dollar or a million dollars.

The novel has always been the form that incorporates other forms. For me, it has always been the ultimate medium.

If you're not going to use your free speech to criticize your own government, then what the hell is the point of having it?

When we practice metta, we open continuously to the truth of our actual experience, changing our relationship to life.

Happiness is your dentist telling you it won't hurt and then having him catch his hand in the drill.

Those who have a tolerable knowledge of human nature will not stand in need of such lights.

Most American men are repressors.

I speak for a lot of church groups, youth groups, schools, colleges and do personal appearances. I've done conventions and trade shows. A lot of different little hats.

It takes certain kind of naiveté, or perhaps just stupidity, to know things will end and still hope otherwise.

You never want to give a man a present when he's feeling good. You want to do it when he's down.

It's a tremendous way of getting people to buy more at lower cost to the producer. There's no question that that's an incentive to buy. Everybody loves a bargain.

We're supposed to take our problems to a family adviser. Personally, I've never met a family adviser. They're all off somewhere listening to dirty stories.