My advice to writers is: READ! A lot. Then read some more. read, read, read, read!

My "mission", if you can call it that, is to connect with my readers on an emotional level and have them come away with a stronger impression of the basic message in the story I am illustrating.

I have many who keep me going, I am very fortunate in this sense. There is nothing like a child who knows more about your books than you do!

My method is subtraction. I use erasers to make the images in my paintings. You really have to see it to fully get it, but it is basically erasing shapes from a background of paint.

The approach to "building" a story with words and phrases is no different than "building" a painting with brushes and pigments.

Research is always a very necessary part of my process because all of my books to this point have been historical. Time spent in the library adds to one's wealth as a writer or artist.

I like people. Humanity. My family is a part of my work. They contribute throughout the process with critiques, advice, opinions, etc.

I will always be an artist first. I see my writing as an extension of my illustrating.

The heart of Christianity is a myth which is also a fact. The old myth of the Dying God, without ceasing to be a myth, comes down from the heaven of legend and imagination to the earth of history.

Don't let your imperfections conveniently excuse you from having discipline. Have the courage to work through your imperfections.

We may assume the superiority ceteris paribus of the demonstration which derives from fewer postulates or hypotheses - in short, from fewer premises.

The years have gone by quickly. Death sits in the seat next to me. We make a lovely couple.

I don't think it makes any sense for an individual to invest in common stocks unless they know the company, work at the company, and so on.

I did a book in 1996, an overview of black history. In that process I became more aware of a lot of the black inventors of the 19th century.

I worry about another leg down in the economies causing social disruption because deleveragings can be very painful - it depends on how they're managed.

Drugs are in every walk of life - doctors, lawyers, preachers, the guy who works for IBM, teenagers on the street, teenagers in school.

What song the Syrens sang, or what name Achilles assumed when he hid himself among women, though puzzling questions, are not beyond all conjecture.

So now we all know," says Four, quietly, "that you are afraid of a short, skinny girl from Abnegation." His mouth curls into a smile.