when you are dealing with art, any kind of art, your pleasure in making it is what matters most.

Never think of revising as fixing something that is wrong. That starts you off in a negative frame of mind. Rather think of it as an opportunity to improve something you already love.

It is the nature of stories to leave out far more than they include.

Writing the opening lines of a story is a bit like starting to ski at the steepest part of a hill. You must have all your skills under control from the first instant.

It is curious how believable I can be when I criticize myself, how unconvincing when I give myself praise.

Where do storytellers find the wisdom to discover their own stories? From no place more mysterious than their own hearts.

Description needs to slide into a story like a snake through grass - silently, almost invisibly, without calling attention to itself. It should enrich every story moment without slowing the action.

another word for talent is obsession.

I was an adult before I began to learn that there is a difference between a conversation and an argument.

my experience as a fiction writer tells me that the deeper I look into myself, the more universal is the experience I find there.

Human beings are storytelling animals. That's what separates us from other creatures, not just having thumbs or using tools.

Patience and Impatience are having tea discussing Time. The conversation goes on endlessly.

As hard as my life has been I have no desire for revenge. If I wish for anything it is for all the things that have been stolen from my life to be returned to me.

Transformation rarely happens accidentally.

As long as man remains an inquiring animal, there can never be a complete unanimity in our fundamental beliefs. The more diverse our paths, the greater is likely to be the divergence of beliefs.

But if you don't enjoy doing something, you'll be miserable no matter how much money you make.

I thought it was very humanitarian of Sean Penn and Madonna to marry each other. That way, they make only two people miserable instead of four.

So from an actor's perspective, you really have no idea how you're acting.

Don't ask permission. If it does not work, you can apologize later.

The birth of science was the death of superstition.

I do not want to be admired. I want to give, to be given, and solitude in which to unfold my possessions.