I was the only person in the world who thought it was a military duty to appear to be in a good mood.

Without music, life is a journey through a desert.

It's impossible to explain to a Yankee what 'tacky' is. They simply have no word for it up north, but my God, do they ever need one.

I was born and raised on a Carolina sea island and I carried the sunshine of the low-country, inked in dark gold, on my back and shoulders.

I’ve never had anyone’s approval, so I’ve learned to live without it.

The most powerful words in English are, 'Tell me a story.'

Here is all I ask of a book- give me everything. Everything, and don't leave out a single word.

I stood face to face with the moon and the ocean and the future that spread out with all its bewildering immensity before me.

Good writing ... involves the agony of turning profoundly difficult thoughts into lucid form, then forcing them into the tight-fitting uniform of language, making them visible and clear.

There is no teacher more discriminating or transforming than loss.

The great teachers fill you up with hope and shower you with a thousand reasons to embrace all aspects of life.

But when your situation is hopeless, all you can do is turn the world upside down, transform it according to your wishes, and create anew.

Oh Christ, he groaned to himself, if this is the stuff adults have to think about I never want to grow up

We were together for a year

Common sense often makes good law.

I write for the unlearned about things in which I am unlearned myself.

You can go one block to the next in San Francisco and get a completely different opinion of what the issue is.

The press always ends up being much nicer than I expect. A lot of times they say something snarky about you, but then you meet them in person and they couldn't be nicer.

I feel that I have grown so much as an actor being on 'Homeland'.

I was content in my universe and didn't want to change it at all, even though I was being propelled in that direction.

Ignorance is God's prison. Knowing is God's palace