People always talk about good, fresh country air, but I kept getting wiffs of something that was neither good nor fresh but definitely country.

Number one rule for fiction: Coincidence can be used to worsen a characters predicament, but never to solve his problems.

Then, early, early, early in the morning-just as in countless Disney films-I heard a rooster crow. But guess what? They don't do it just once.

Mothers are legendary for being able to read the thoughts of their children at just the right moment.

If you don't like vampire games, don't play

There, close enough to spit on--if I'd been a barbarian and inclined to spit--was the dragon.

if Saint Bruce doesn't like your poem, he chops your head off.

Those Grimm brothers," she said with a sigh, "they'll never amount to anything." And she was right because all they ever became was writers.

The wolf sniffed beneath the door to be sure this was a human cottage. The scent was undeniable. No pigs, except in bacon form. The wolf thought bacon form was a very sensible way for pigs to behave.

They'd poisoned me, dammit. Probably to trade my dead body to the barbarians for Wulfgar's safe return. Or maybe just for the fun of it.

Giannine--What are they going to do: smack me on the head with a pamplet?

Any fool can make something complicated. It takes a genius to make it simple.

When Bill Clinton ran in '92, and I listened to him, and I had of course known of his record from Arkansas, I found him extraordinarily inspirational, and I voted Democratic.

There's a freedom to being young that is harder to come by as time goes on.

To all those who lead monotonous lives in the hope that they may experience at second hand the delights and dangers of adventure. [author's dedication]

Hitler's economic revolution in Germany had reduced financial considerations to a point where they played no role in economic or political decisions

Dude, I didn't say Jude Law can't act. I didn't say Jude Law was in bad movies. I just said he's in every movie.

I spent my whole childhood looking for an escape.

I'm not a functional person because I don't go on lunch dates with friends. I hear about people having dinner parties but I never do that. I'm not really human.

I want Americans to know that Guantánamo​ happened not to monsters, but to men. Innocent men.

Theater acting is an operation with a scalpel, movie acting is an operation with a laser