Sports is a bloodless rehearsal of confrontation, and everyone shakes hands or high fives or fist bumps at the end to show that everything is okay.

Generally speaking, I think it is fair to say that I am a friend to the creatures of the Earth when I am not busy eating them or wearing them.

A stopped clock is correct twice a day, but a sundial can be used to stab someone, even at nighttime.

Specificity is the soul of narrative.

I am not beautiful, so I don't know why I'm making myself ugly. But the mustache stays.

All I can ask from society is that it please stop telling me why I should like sports.

I actually own a copy of my own book; that's how dedicated I am as an author.

There is no ritual that enhances creativity other than just starting.

My career as a magazine writer was largely prefaced on the idea of curiosity, to go on adventures and weasel my way into the lives of people that I admire.

A literary agent is nothing but a cheap salesman (or woman); while a writer is a cheap salesman (or woman) who also has to actually write the books.

The villain of any story is often the most compelling character.

Let us not dwell into past thoughts, worn out ideas, false beliefs. Let them go so that you can create a new self by emptying your mind and filling it with new thoughts, ideas, and visions.

If it ain't a pleasure, it ain't a poem.

I am lonely, sometimes, but I dare say it's good for me…

There is already enough chattering nonsense on the ground. Do we really need aviaries in pressurised tin cans at 30, 000 feet as well ?

If we would build on a sure foundation in friendship we must love friends for their sake rather than for our own.

If we did not bring to the examinations of our instincts a knowledge of their comparative dignity we could never learn it from them.

I've always felt that singing is half technical, half taxing. You've got words, a melody, and an instrument, and you have to do justice to the words. You're just a medium for people to feel the song.

The American people have the right to know and understand the laws they live under. And they tend to demand answers sooner or later.

I don't like conflict.

If you re-read your work, you can find on re-reading a great deal of repetition can be avoided by re-reading and editing.