I was on the Oprah Winfrey Show once. It was a really slow news day for Oprah, and there were several of us on 'cause none of us was sufficiently interesting by his or herself.

Sure, I have advice for people starting to write. Don't. I don't need the competition.

Writer's block? I've never heard of a plumber complain about plumber's block.

Very few of my books are about who stole the Maltese Falcon

Coincidence exists, but believing in it never did me any good.

The key to growing up well, is being tough enough.

I write five pages a day. If you would read five pages a day, we'd stay right even.

I really don't know what I am going to do in terms of what a book is going to be about until I actually start writing it!

I think at this stage in my life I have learned that there are any number of things that men will never know, and can never hope to know, about women.

For David Parker and Daniel Parker, with the respect and admiration of their father, who grew up with them.

You do the best you can and you deal with the consequences. It's all there is.

The more "things" I have, the more time I spend thinking about them, moving them around, fixing them, looking for them, or upgrading them.

People love books because they're searching for answers to deep, unconscious questions - and books get as close as it's possible to get.

You end up as you deserve. In old age you must put up with the face, the friends, the health, and the children you have earned.

Breaking up isn't something that gets done to you; its something that happens with you.

Novels may have taken care of the emotional business for me, which has allowed music to be more emotional for me.

Wisdom that don't make us happier ain't worth plowing for.

I think women are much stronger than men in society. We take more risks than they do in general.

Not doing it is certainly the best way to not getting it

Success is not the measure of a man but a triumph over those who choose to hold him back.