Post-modernism is dead because it didn't address human needs.

When it comes time to sit down and write the next book, you're deathly afraid that you're not up to the task. That was certainly the case with me after Snow Falling on Cedars.

The status quo was rote memorization and recitation in classrooms thronged with passive children who were sternly disciplined when they expressed individual needs.

My father is a practicing criminal law attorney in the Seattle area.

At one level you're condemned to the voice you have. But within those confines, you have a certain amount of freedom to range among your possible voices.

There are things in this universe that we cannot control, and then there are the things we can. . . . Let fate, coincidence, and accident conspire; human beings must act on reason.

What some people interpret as brooding melancholy is serenity. I don't feel required to grasp all the time.

accident ruled every corner of the universe except the chambers of the human heart.

There's a certain nostalgia and romance in a place you left.

It's a brooding melancholy that haunts me.

I'm interested in themes that endure from generation to generation.

Preparation, application and determination are three of the most important factors that enable you to regain your sparkle and shine like never before.

I'm very honest about where I'm coming from.

I have been to hell and back. I had a very, very bad nervous breakdown.

We need a leader who won't be silent - as Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have been - as millions of Christians are persecuted throughout the Middle East.

The descent into matter must be complete before the ascent to spirit can commence.

The instinct of brutes and insects can be the effect of nothing else than the wisdom and skill of a powerful ever-living agent.

Everybody has a direct view of the person "behind" the art, so there is going to be a certain amount of awareness of who is making songs. But I like paintings where you can see the brush-strokes.

Ninety percent of the trouble in this world comes from guys who think they have something to prove.

When the time comes, they won't ask what kind of a Jew you are.

My joke, which isn't really a joke, is that there will be one of two tours: the tour for the album that does well, or the tour for the album that stiffs.