Many of my works fall into the category of "Zeitgeist novels." Yet I hope that they aren't only reportage, but also attempts to convey the sense of the present to the future.

If you want to be proud of yourself, then do things in which you can take pride

A clear vision, backed by definite plans, gives you a tremendous feeling of confidence and personal power.

To find a mountain path all by oneself gives a greater feeling of strength than to take a path that is shown.

I like the silent church before the service begins, better than any preaching.

Desire outweighs footwork when it comes to crashing the glass

It could be argued that every age gets the comfort savagery writer it deserves.

Anyone can get a job, but do you have a purpose?

If you are in a bad relationship with anyone else, it is because you are in a bad relationship with yourself.

Always carry a notebook. And I mean always. The short-term memory only retains information for three minutes; unless it is committed to paper you can lose an idea for ever.

The summer demands and takes away too much. /But night, the reserved, the reticent, gives more than it takes

You have to change your thinking if you desire to have a future different from your present.

When it came to music growing up, it wasn't just gospel and R&B. My uncle brought rock 'n' roll to me when I was younger, and I loved it. I was open to all music.

I don't think there could ever be more pressure to succeed than the pressure I place on myself.

There are two ways to lose you sanity in Juarez. One is to believe the violence results from a cartel war. The other is to claim to understand what is behind each murder.

Life without music is no life at all.

I dont want someone else to go through and live through the life that I have had to live through in terms of the challenges that I face.

You'll sometimes hear from people that they actually do a better job of getting their work done when they have a lot of other obligations - in effect, it removes the possibility of procrastinating.

If you help manufacture an enemy that's really evil, you can point to the fact that it's really evil, and say, "Hey, it's really evil."

If you work all the time, you lose the intermittence of reflection and thought at every stage. Take breaks - for you and your work.

I feel like I'm at a point in my career where I'm looking for something else to sink my teeth into that's interesting to me, that I can do that I can feel like I'm turning another corner.