There's an old rule of theater that goes, 'If there's a gun on the mantel in Act I, it must go off in Act III.' The reverse is also true.

you can, you should, and if you’re brave enough to start, you will.

The road to hell is paved with adverbs.

When you write a book, you spend day after day scanning and identifying the trees. When you’re done, you have to step back and look at the forest.

Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.

Description begins in the writer’s imagination, but should finish in the reader’s.

Write with the door closed, rewrite with the door open.

The most important things to remember about back story are that (a) everyone has a history and (b) most of it isn’t very interesting.

Symbolism exists to adorn and enrich, not to create an artificial sense of profundity.

The more you read, the less apt you are to make a fool of yourself with your pen or word processor.

To write is human, to edit is divine.

Egotism: the art of seeing in yourself what others cannot see.

Social psychology is especially interested in the effect which the social group has in the determination of the experience and conduct of the individual member.

You could say that Trump is the 21st century version of Pat Buchanan. Protectionist, anti-immigrant.

Gabriel Byrne is an extraordinary human being. We have two extraordinary kids and we work at it. We were always friends. He stuck by me through very hard times, and I hope he'd say the same about me.

A sufficient realization of love will dissolve it all. If only you could love enough you would be the happiest and most powerful being in the world.

The goal of teaching is learning, not teaching.

I don't know if I have the patience and I don't have a trainers license but I will help out. Whether I want to do that full time, I doubt it.

The world has no long injustices.

The Welfare State, which begun in Imperial Germany for the truly indigent and disabled, has now become "everybody's entitlement" and an increasing burden on those who produce.

Single's fun - you don't have to check in with your girl, but it's not easy. I do get lonely.