Some writers would be kinder than others, I'm sure. Hopefully they might describe my techniques as a mixture of tried and tested formulas - if it aint broke don't fix it - and unexpected twists.

This sort of encouragement is vital for any writer. And lastly the publication of Touching the Flame, which was on hold for two years and went through a few publishers before finding a stable home.

I don't know anyone who actually likes the dark or night-time. I don't care how much they say it doesn't bother them. That's why we used to huddle in caves and light fires when the sun went down.

Having said that, I'm a huge Jack Nicholson fan because he just goes nuts in everything he does. Having Jack in his heyday would also be a dream come true.

Sometimes I'll hear a phrase or a word and write it down in my little black notebook (a writer's best mate), then come back to it and work a plot around it.

The joy of painting lies precisely in the challenge of memory and the challenge of translation from the lived experience to the two-dimensional or three-dimensional symbol.

Painting is a matter of finding the right balance between consoling and reassuring the eye and challenging and disturbing the eye.

Photos represent primarily a seductive but deleterious short cut.

The face of totalitarianism turned out to be a mask - obviously - but the face of Capitalism has no face at all.

Considering the amount of work I put into each piece, the amount I need to make from it is pretty high. I won't sell for less... but that means I rarely sell.

Writing can be a very solitary business. It's you sat at a desk typing words into a computer. It can get lonely sometimes and lots of writers live quite isolated lives.

You're sure?' I asked. 'I mean, the Lord of the Sword is great. But you could also be, I don't know, the Slammer of the Hammer'.

It takes healthy, resilient leaders and employees to achieve great results.

Happiness consists more in small conveniences or pleasures that occur every day than in great pieces of good fortune that happen but seldom.

Of course there is no formula for success except perhaps an unconditional acceptance of life and what it brings.

You're tearin' my guts out, Claire.

Life is short, very short, and what are we doing here if not trying to become more generous and loving?

Blessed is the healthy nature; it is the coherent, sweetly co-operative, not incoherent, self-distracting, self-destructive one!

Always talk to God, never listen to the cops.

Our politics are our deepest form of expression: they mirror our past experiences and reflect our dreams and aspirations for the future.

Failure either ruins you, or turns you into the man you can become.