I think if you spend much time dwelling on influence you can get self-conscious about every line you write. That's a great way to freeze up.

Somewhere along the way America became a giant mall with a country attached.

It took me 10 years to write a story that pleased me - that I could look at after it was published and not cringe.

It is sort of weird being honored for the worst day of your life.

Late bloomer' is another way of saying 'slow learner.

By the end of the first decade of writing, I considered myself a confirmed failure in the eyes of the world.

I never listen to music when I'm writing.

Americans are incredibly polite as long as they get what they want.

There was no such thing as perfection in this world, only moments of such extreme transparency that you forgot yourself, a holy mercy if there ever was one.

If you could figure out how to live with family then you'd gone a long way toward finding your peace.

The funny thing is, about the time I let go of any aspiration toward worldly success, that's about the time I started writing decent work.

His quest was a wolf, and it starved. - Gansey

What you were is yesterday.What you are is now.What you can be is tomorrow.What you decide to be is today.

I joined Count Basie's band to make a little money and to see the world. For two years I didn't see anything but the inside of a Blue Goose bus, and I never got to send home a quarter.

One of the things I had to learn as a writer was to trust the act of writing. To put myself in the position of writing to find out what I was writing.

My mom was the poster girl for the Marines. So she was in the poster saying, "I want you." My parents were both Marines.

A guy named Charlie Beacham was my first mentor at Ford. He taught me the importance of the dealers, and he rubbed my nose in the retail business.

I have a lot of respect for people with a lot of talent.

I'd love to open a tennis school for children in my hometown of Sochi.

I know well that the greater and more beautiful the work is, the more terrible will be the storms that rage against it.

We're supposed to be civilized. We're supposed to go to work every day. We're supposed to be nice to our friends and send Christmas cards to our parents.