Our shared world is humanly unquantifiable and ideologically confused. Which one of them is capable of implementing the most recognizable harm or good?

Anybody who doesn't know that politics is crime has got a few screws loose.

I would like to provoke ambiguous responses in my readers.

Tell me anything. Tell me everything. Revoke our time apart. Love me fierce in danger.

L.A.: Come on vacation, go home on probation.

Cats gotta scratch. Dogs gotta bite. I gotta write.

I am a writer. I could not afford to take 15 months off from my writing career to play detective.

Some men get the world, some men get ex-hookers and a trip to Arizona. You're in with the former, but my God I don't envy the blood on your conscience.

I've been tremendously moved by a bunch of odd books. Ross McDonald is very important to me. I love the Lew Archer books.

I love thinking about American history, thinking about LA history. I love brooding on crime.

I learn things late-and only the hard way.

our heads were full of nebulous ideas, which cast an idealized, almost romantic glow over life

The main reception foyer was almost empty but Ford nevertheless weaved his way through it.

Veni vidi vici. (I came I saw I conquered.)

Children have a right to some stability and constancy from the adults in their lives.

There is no end to the promotion. There is no end to the possibilities. You can continue to promote a book for years, literally.

The coffeehouse is good for genius, and the Viennese coffeehouse is a classic case. Freud had his favorite coffee shop, and so did Gustav Klimt.

Forget yourself and get to work.

I'm still alive. And I'm still fabulous.

When my friends and I played cowboys and Indians, I was always the Chinese railroad worker.

Christmas is more that a time of festivities, family, and friends; it is a season of generosity, gladness, and gratitude.