At 12 I dropped out of school but I had lost interest in it at a much earlier age. For me, school was very very stressful.

I collect things that just look retarded.

I had this whole ritual with my mother making the bed with me inside it so I would be invisible.

The way this whole novel thing came together was, I sold them one bill of goods and then didn't communicate very well. I am like Captain Run-on Sentence.

When we had to do book reports, I would pick a book that no one read and just make it up and turn that in. I got praised for my imagination.

My father would often work all night and sleep during the day, so for us, dinner might be pancakes, and breakfast might be beef stroganoff.

I've always wanted to have a book published - it was a dream of mine, but the thought of actually writing a book made me feel really sick.

I would ask my parents something, but then go to my siblings. We were encouraged to bounce ideas off everyone.

I think what my father appreciated was the science experiment of life. He had these kids, and they had their own experiences. He wanted us to discover the world for ourselves.

I didn't read at all until I was 12. I just couldn't. It was too frustrating.

I definitely have managed to overcome dyslexia now to become a fully functional human being but things were a lot more difficult when I was younger.

Human beings would split the atom and invent television, nylon, and instant coffee before they could figure out the age of their own planet.

When an upstart dictator in the United States succeeds in making this a one-party form of government, I shall have the courage to stand up and advocate the use of bullets.

I'd traveled a lot, was going temporarily insane and became very successful, but there was no one to take that all home to.

A Poem from Edna St. Vincent Millay: Grown-up Was it for this I uttered prayers, And sobbed and cursed and kicked the stairs, That now, domestic as a plate, I should retire at half-past eight?

At a certain R.P.M., there's only one way for blood to leave your body, and that's through your eyeballs. That means you're dead.

There's a thin line between interesting music and self-indulgence. We crossed it on the Passengers record.

Looking for enlightenment is like looking for a flashlight when all you need the flashlight for is to find the flashlight.

If you focus on the obstacles, then you give them more power.

Truth never hurt the teller.

I don't see any negativity with what Brad Pitt is doing with his Make It Right Foundation, or what Sean Penn is trying to do in Haiti.