I think my heart is quite selfish. If I followed my heart, I would not be a good person. But I have moral principles. I have to sit down and reflect.

All interesting heroes have an Achilles heel.

I've read that it's the smell some carnivores use to find their prey. Imagine the trembling victim trying to hide, but knowing that the smell of its own fear will kill it.

As a writer, you have to believe you're one of the best writers in the world. To sit down every day at the typewriter filled with self-doubt is not a good idea.

Doubt is faith's shadow.

You can't visit readers where you think they are. You have to invite them home to where you are and try to lure them into your universe. That's the art of storytelling.

My influence is probably more from American crime writers than any Europeans. And I hardly read any Scandinavian crime before I started writing myself. I wasn't a great crime reader to begin with.

To have the chance of being loved we have to take a chance on being destroyed inside

Everything you do leaves traces, doesn't it. The life you've lived is written all over you, for those who can read.

Love is a greater mystery than death.

Love surrounds you like steam in the shower. You can't see the individual drops, but you get warm. And wet. And clean.

A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.

People who have suffered understand pain and are often the best at helping others.

We are lucky when we are helped while we lose our balance

Vogue' is the best of everything that fashion can offer, and I think we point the way. We are, you know, a glamorous girlfriend.

Everyone wants to be liked, so of course you want critical acclaim. After that, box office acclaim isn't bad. More than anything I think you have to try and make something you're proud of.

Every life is precious to God. God created every one of us. He gave us a soul, and that soul will live as long as God lives.

Hey, a woman changed her mind - what else is new?

That was only a yard away from being an inch-perfect pass.

I was a prosecutor for many years, I'm a crime victim myself, and I've tried so many cases I don't even know how many anymore.

When you're president, you learn to act like you know what you're talking about. And it's a great skill.