If I was asked to say what was the greatest invention of human beings, I would say the sentence.

Fictional characters are made of words, not flesh; they do not have free will, they do not exercise volition. They are easily born, and as easily killed off.

In order really to write one has to sink deep into the self and become lost there.

All my life I have lied. I lied to escape, I lied to be loved, I lied for placement and power; I lied to lie. It was a way of living; lies are life's almost-anagram.

The past beats inside me like a second heart.

Everything we do is tinged with the knowledge that this may be the last time that we will do this, and that makes what we're doing incredibly sweet.

We carry the dead with us only until we die too, and then it is we who are borne along for a little while, and then our bearers in their turn drop, and so on into the unimaginable generations.

To take possession of a city of which you are not a native you must first fall in love there.

For memory, we use our imagination. We take a few strands of real time and carry them with us, then like an oyster we create a pearl around them.

A man is not much if he can't depend on himself, and nothing if others can't depend on him.

Most crime fiction, no matter how 'hard-boiled' or bloodily forensic, is essentially sentimental, for most crime writers are disappointed romantics.

Expressing our feelings out loud, especially to someone else, can bring a sense of relief. There is power in proclamation.

Know how to use evasion. That is how smart people get out of difficulties.

Coming from a smaller place always made things feel more personal, which is really what it's all about.

A young man is stirred and stimulated by the consciousness of how much depends upon his own exertions: a young girl is oppressed by it.

My goal in life has been to be a songsmith, not a pop person.

A novel which persuades us of its truth is true however full of lies it may be

Judging oneself to be inferior to other people was one of the worst acts of pride because it was the most destructive way of being different.

Light comes to us by the sensibility. Without visual sensibility there is no light, no movement.

Obviously, all of us have been influenced by those around us.

It was very serious and I wanted to do something really different so there was this comedy called TOP SECRET.