Plot makes the character just as history makes the man.

The biggest impact my father had on my life was teaching the importance of literacy.

For someone who loves literature, and all books on principle, being asked to name three titles over a half century of serious reading is akin to asking one to recall their three favorite sunsets.

My father thought of himself as a tradesman. A craftsman.

My father valued patriotism above all other social obligations, but he had his own particular interpretation of just how true patriotism was meant to function.

You didnt grow up in the shadow of John Steinbeck. He put you on his shoulders and gave you all the light you wanted.

I like writing, but I write for self-improvement more than I do for money.

My father believed, like Pericles, that a mans genius could be easily judged by the number of unenlightened fools set in phalanx against his ideas.

I started writing serious books so late because I knew Id be accused of riding on my fathers coattails.

Since I cant write the greatest American novel, Im going to write the longest American novel.

We must arm ourselves with patience and wisdom and listen to the poor what they want. This is the best way to avoid the trap of ignorance, ideology and inertia on our side.

Yeah, every team has to look to maximize their revenue.

Hillary Clinton's policies obviously didn't work. What you have to do is look at Libya, look at anything you want to look at and to have it work.

Management innovation is going to be the most enduring source of competitive advantage. There will be lots of rewards for firms in the vanguard.

My life has been the poem I would have writ, But I could not both live and utter it.

We are facing a tipping point of environmental crisis unprecedented in human history and our very survival is dependent on protecting nature.

Sometimes I think I have the best job in the world.

Of course, the recorder will never have the repertoire of the piano or the violin.

I'm on the Facebook board now. Little did they know that I thought Facebook was really stupid when I first heard about it back in 2005.

In the world there is no democracy better than our democracy. Such a thing has never before been seen.