I never laugh or smile when I am writing. When I come home for lunch after writing all morning, my wife says I look like I just came home from a funeral. This is not bragging. This is an illness.

Like Richard Price and the late, great Elmore Leonard, Matt Burgess is one of those cool, quick and funny writers who can turn a seemingly routine crime caper into something special.

The greatest sin for a writer is to be boring.

The first rule of hurricane coverage is that every broadcast must begin with palm trees bending in the wind.

Sunset on the water ought to be a quiet and easy time, but I guess some people can't stand a little silence.

My escape is to just get in a boat and disappear on the water.

My driving record is not exemplary, but I have never had a speeding ticket over 100 m.p.h. I can say that unequivocally.

Disney's something to be a little alarmed about. It's not just a little theme park anymore. It's now an ethic and outlook and strategy that goes way beyond central Florida.

There is no writer's block in a newsroom. There's only unemployment block.

Unfortunately for novelists, real life is getting way too funny and far-fetched.

I've always enjoyed making people laugh. But in order for me to be funny, I have to get ticked off about something.

Perseverance, endurance and patience are the three greatest survival skills.

Strength is seeing yourself as you are.

Whoever might perfume a scorpionWill not thereby escape its sting. Bahaudin Naqshband

The big thing is that you know what you want.

It's easy to be drowned out by the crowd, but to thine own self be true, say I, no matter what everybody says, no matter what the popular vibe is.

I wish that I was where I am.

Life is too short to drink the house wine.

Some of my best friedns are children. In fact, all of my best friends are children.

We are all of us stars, and we deserve to twinkle.

Unnatural deeds Do breed unnatural troubles: infected minds To their deaf pillows will discharge their secrets.