Ma, sooner or later there comes a point in a man's life when he's gotta face some facts. And one fact I've got to face is whateverit is women like, I ain't got it.

You British plundered half the world for your own profit. Let's not pass it off as the Age of Enlightenment.

Stop thinking about writing as art. Think of it as work. If you’re an artist, whatever you do is going to be art. If you’re not an artist, at least you can do a good day’s work.

It's always the generals with the bloodiest records who are the first to shout what a hell it is. And it's always the war widows who lead the Memorial Day parades.

Americans don’t want drama, especially good drama, they just want their boredom killed.

Artists don't talk about art. Artists talk about work. If I have anything to say to young writers, it's stop thinking of writing as art. Think of it as work.

The worst kind of censorship is the kind that takes place in your own mind before you sit down to a typewriter.

Television is the menace that everyone loves to hate but can't seem to live without.

God save us from people who do the morally right thing. It's always the rest of us who get broken in half.

Television is democracy at its ugliest.

I'm not a great writer. I'm a great rewriter.

Lucian's father had warned him to fear idle men. Without the pride gained from a good day's work, they were left to their vices and the doubts that crowded their head. Their hatred. Their envy.

To reveal your greatness, see the greatness in everyone. Ignore pettiness and forgive everyone.

Just breathe. Sometimes you're only a few breaths away from feeling better.

Good characters the reader cares about combined with an intriguing plot. Do those two and you've got it made.

My sense was that most of the elected officials in Washington - in their heart of hearts - really believe that the system can't be too bad because it produced them.

Honestly, I am pretty passionate about avoiding failure!

I never really had stage nerves but I did have had trouble getting up to the right energy level. For a long time I drank. I drank up until 1982 and then I gave up alcohol.

Watching other teams in the World Series is like watching somebody else eat a Hot Fudge Sundae.

The libertarian can have no truck with 'left' or 'right' because he regrets any form of authoritarianism - the use of police force to control the creative life of man.

I will never be able to say what is in my heart because words fail us, because it is in our nature to protect, because there are times when what is public and what is private must be discerned.