I've always wanted to write a novel. It's overwhelming and daunting, and it's one of those things that every writer fantasizes about doing.

I'm one of three brothers.

Her lips were like the soft beauty of a delicately designed silken scarf.

I'm a member of the Pacific Council on International Policy.

I feel like a centrist, an issue-specific person. I'm pretty conservative fiscally and pretty liberal on social issues.

Listening takes practice, and it takes patience. But I promise, if you listen, your story will be better for it.

Where I came from, no one was a writer.

In a novel, the relationship between writer and reader is such a pure one.

In a novel, the only budgetary limitations are that of your imagination.

I have a ways to go as a novelist. But what's great is, well, I frankly enjoyed the solitude. And I enjoyed being able to tell characters what to say and do without negotiating with an actor.

When you're writing a novel, you're still telling a story. But you're telling it very differently. It's a craft like anything else.

Find a part of yourself hidden in the twilight.

You have two options. work on someone else's ideas and make some money or generate ideas make them work and become a millionaire.

We must not, however, be like the leaders of the great romantic revolt who, in their eagerness to get rid of the husk of convention, disregarded also the humane aspiration.

If you haven't cried deeply a number of times, your meditation hasn't really begun.

It is the job of the novelist to touch the reader.

History is a long and endlessly interesting argument, where evidence is everything and storytelling is everything else.

Put me up against Sarah Silverman and I could take her.

I am happy to report that in the war between reality and romance, reality is not the stronger.

I have been on the phone 30 minutes with you and you haven't helped me solve this problem.

The government does not add value to the economy. It removes value from the economy by imposing taxes on one citizen and providing cash to another.