A rat is neither good nor evil. It does what a rat has to do.

All interesting heroes have an Achilles heel.

I've read that it's the smell some carnivores use to find their prey. Imagine the trembling victim trying to hide, but knowing that the smell of its own fear will kill it.

As a writer, you have to believe you're one of the best writers in the world. To sit down every day at the typewriter filled with self-doubt is not a good idea.

Doubt is faith's shadow.

You can't visit readers where you think they are. You have to invite them home to where you are and try to lure them into your universe. That's the art of storytelling.

My influence is probably more from American crime writers than any Europeans. And I hardly read any Scandinavian crime before I started writing myself. I wasn't a great crime reader to begin with.

To have the chance of being loved we have to take a chance on being destroyed inside

Everything you do leaves traces, doesn't it. The life you've lived is written all over you, for those who can read.

Love is a greater mystery than death.

Love surrounds you like steam in the shower. You can't see the individual drops, but you get warm. And wet. And clean.

Pictures ... flashed on her in sudden color, too much color, shocking color, the color that leaps out of black when lightning strikes at night.

My sister said she was tired of the blood diet and wants to go home. I guess you'll have to trade your double-wide coffin in for a sleeker single

He who is fortunately enlightened [the Sufi]Knows that sophistry is from the devil and love from Adam.

But virtue, as it never will be moved, Though lewdness court it in a shape of heaven, So lust, though to a radiant angel linked, Will sate itself in a celestial bedAnd prey on garbage.

Think of one person who you are tempted for any reason to withhold love from, and pray for their happiness. In that moment your pain will stop.

Willpower is the shortest shortcut to success.

We're sitting under the tree of our thinking minds, wondering why we're not getting any sunshine!

If the Black woman is a queen, and I believe that she is, why would I settle for something less than royal?

If I come up with rules or limitations it focuses me in a direction. And those rules can change if you realize it's a dumb idea. You start to mutate it to see what fits best.

You should never ever ever have somebody else who is the foundation of your life. You need to be the foundation of your own sh*t.