One of the reasons I write in different genres is that I get to have the feeling - even fleetingly - that I'm not just writing like Baggott again. I can escape myself.

A good novel doesn't just transcend the boundaries of its target market - it knows nothing about target markets.

Sometimes the only way to fix a mistake- is to make it twice.

Love is a luxury. It's something that people are allowed to indulge in when they're not simply trying to survive and keep other people alive.

If you look at the world one way, it takes from you - it's a thief of time, energy, creative mojo. But if you look at the world another way, it gives you an endless supply of motivation.

Omission is a sin only if, in the process of deceiving, you forget the truth. Lying is a sin only if, in the process, the lie becomes the only truth.

The intricacy of plotting a thriller is akin to writing formal poetry.

Red Sox fans have been pushed to the brink over the years, but that's how faith grows stronger.

I prefer a cluttered workspace.

I want women writers to write boldly, wildly, deeply. I want them to feel really liberated to tell the brutal truth, however they see that truth and are moved to tell it.

The poem has to bear the weight with image, language... the screenplay with dialogue, plot.

Be respectful to your superiors, if you have any.

I believe in empathy. When religion provides that for people, it's the best thing in the world.

I look forward to the future - and going into the studio to make new music.

The whole visible world is perhaps nothing more than the rationalization of a man who wants to find peace for a moment.

Without enlightenment, everything in life is harsh. Sooner or later you see everyone you love die, unless you die first, of course. This causes you to suffer.

This must be part of Mother Nature's master plan—making these boys so irresistibly cute, in such a naughty way, that the purity of their intentions becomes irrelevant.

If you love your children, if you love your country, if you love the God of love, clear your hands from slaves, burden not your children or your country with them.

You can't fix stupid. You can't fix a neutered dog you can't fix a garage door and hey, you can't fix stupid

I wanna survive an avalanche. I wanna be one of those people a dog finds buried under a ton of snow, almost dying of starvation.

Let us be careful to distinguish modesty, which is ever amiable, from reserve, which is only prudent.