A lawyer's job is to manipulate the skeletons in other people's closets.

In our not-yet-acknowledged secret garden lie the seeds of some of our best not-yet-written stories

The expert magician seeks to deceive the mind, rather than the eye.

The biggest difference between a writer and a would-be writer is their attitude toward rewriting. . . . Unwillingness to revise usually signals an amateur.

Our instinct as human beings is to provide answers, to ease tension. As writers our job is the opposite, to create tension and not dispel it immediately.

A reader's emotions can be sparked with few words. That's the power of dialogue.

To create tension, dialogue needs to be stretched out. That is, characters should not be immediately responsive.

Dialogue is a lean language in which every word counts.

A writer writes what other people only think.

Dialogue, contrary to popular view, is not a recording of actual speech; it is a semblance of speech, an invented language of exchanges that build in tempo or content toward climaxes.

Most of the time, tough, combative, adversarial dialogue is much more exciting than physical action.

You are a lesson to your own life. You just need to turn the page.

Man may fail you. But God will never forsake you.

Our tears are precious, necessary, and part of what make us such endearing creatures.

You can't exercise your way out of a bad diet.

Love, till dawn sunder night from day with fire Dividing my delight and my desire.

Yes, during the pilot, they gave me a little toy from the shop. It's like three little moose in a boat, paddling. It's very cute. And I got to keep some of the clothes.

Television and film are our libraries now. Our history books.

There's nothing wrong with blame, if blame is due.

Any nation has the right and will indeed defend herself.

I'm an individual, and I have opinions.