The professional guts a book through - in full knowledge that what he is doing is not very good. Not to work is to exhibit a failure of nerve.

I’ve always thought a novelist only has one character and that is himself or herself.

The narrative was too constricted; it was like a fetus strangling on its own umbilical cord.

Writing is manual labor of the mind: a job, like laying pipe.

Violence is the way stupid people try to level the playing field.

The world is divided up into two kinds of people - those who look at their body waste in the toilet bowl, and those who don't.

I started all over again on page 1, circling the 262 pages like a vulture looking for live flesh to scavenge.

There are two types of people ... the scrutinizers and the scrutinized

The point of a notebook is to jumpstart the mind.

Novels do take charge of the writer, and the writer is basically a kind of sheepdog just trying to keep things on track.

Because one has written other books does not mean the next becomes any easier.

Don't just create art to make money. Make money so you can create more art.

I’ve found that lifting the lid with your foot is the most thorough and least gross path to two minutes of peace of mind.

I am often late for planes. The airlines know me now, they call at home and ask, 'How much later will you be today?

Jesus Christ is, in the noblest and most perfect sense, the realized ideal of humanity.

Allow regular time for silent reflection. Turn inward and digest what has happened. Let the senses rest and grow still.

Dhoni backed Jadeja to play aggressively and backed Ishant to bowl short. I have not seen a better Indian captain than him.

I think the most important thing for all of us to realize is you have to make the decision and be comfortable with it. And every woman should be respected for making her own choice.

If you can see the invisible, then you can see the possible and provide the opportunities for trust, commitment and ways of empowering others to manage their past, present and future.

There is a long and interesting tradition of really marginal left-field music that becomes commercially successful. And I will, for a brief minute, fit into that tradition.

I won't call myself a failure. Failure is not getting knocked down. It's not getting up.