It's not like I was an alkie or anything. Alcohol is for cleaning needles

A waft of sweet hash drifted by, and I wanted to float after it like Wimpy levitating at the scent of a hamburger.

I need - and occasionally love - to write for the same reasons I always did: hard as writing is, it's generally easier than life.

All of us, at some point in life, choose our cliché.

I don't really know how to do much else besides write.

I kept getting high to kill my shame at the fact that I kept getting high.

To me, God is like this happy bus driver.

In my family, misery didn't just love company, it wanted hostages.

I've always wanted to be a guy with a rec room.

You need an entire drama to construct your life around to avoid living it.

This is what I think: If you had the nerve to live what you lived, you should have the nerve to write it.

It is the sensitive people in any organization that become aware of the need to discover the acceptable "middle" ground between "profit only" and "people only" and act accordingly.

You don't fight the battles you know you will win, its the ones that everyone says you will lose.

Anger and bitterness—whatever the cause—only end up hurting us. Turn that anger over to Christ.

Fear not the anger of the wise to raise; Those best can bear reproof who merit praise.

Every adaptation requires that the screenwriter make difficult choices - and in particular, difficult cuts.

Vigilantly guard your mind against erroneous and destructive thought as you would guard your house against burglars and assassins.

I love James Baldwin essays, but also his novels. I recently read "Another Country." I couldn't believe how ahead of his time he was.

A good antidote to nostalgia is to go home, and then you remember why you left.

Yes, my kids come first, but as a parent I need to come to them with a fresh mind. I can't be too exhausted or too tired. And I am a better parent when I have more energy.

If you have any problems at all, don't hesitate to shut up.