I've had good publishers and bad publishers, and you've got to learn when the advice is sensible and when it's not.

The functions of intellect are insufficient without courage, love, friendship, compassion and empathy.

The whisper of the dusk is night shedding its husk.

Where there is cake, there is hope. And there is always cake.

Petting, scratching, and cuddling a dog could be as soothing to the mind and heart as deep meditation and almost as good for the soul as prayer.

Nothing is worse than being alone on the evening of the day when one's cow has exploded.

Only once in a generation does anything as fresh as a vomiting detective come along.

The hands of every clock are shears, trimming us away scrap by scrap, and every time piece with a digital readout blinks us towards implosion.

Most people tend to think the best of those who are blessed with beauty; we have difficulty imagining that physical perfection can conceal twisted emotions or a damaged mind.

Any drunk who has tried to put his car where a lamppost stands is a self-educated physicist.

Given my heritage and the ordeal of my childhood, I sometimes wonder why I myself am not insane. Maybe I am.

The journey of growth, search for the secret has always been within, the simpler we make it, the better it gets.

It’s just as hard to go back to a place you once left, as it is to leave it again.

You do not beg the sun for mercy.-Maud'dib's Travail from The Stilgar Commentary

The worst thing that can happen in a democracy - as well as in an individual's life - is to become cynical about the future and lose hope.

I was at school when Britney Spears' 'Baby One More Time' came out. I changed my uniform to look like hers. I just looked slutty after that, so thank you, Britney.

In the early part of your career you are always compared with somebody until you can stand on your own two feet

I feel like Elvis. Only alive.

The women that I met were exceptional, extraordinary - tremendous purity, tremendous gentleness, self-giving and power.

Craft your love into everything

When 'Desperate Housewives' ends, I think my girls will be about the kindergarten age. I will be so happy to be there for them through that huge transition.