Stephen King. Now I'm not crazy about him, but he's a great a writer.

The first chapter sells the book; the last chapter sells the next book.

The most important part of a story is the ending. No one reads a book to get to the middle.

I'm actually a softie. Tough guys get killed too early... I've got a full head of hair and don't wear eyeglasses.

Inspiration is an empty bank account.

Mike Hammer drinks beer because I can't spell Cognac.

Nobody reads a book to get to the middle.

If the public likes you, you're good. Shakespeare was a common, down-to-earth writer in his day.

Those big-shot writers ... could never dig the fact that there are more salted peanuts consumed than caviar.

I have no fans. You know what I got? Customers. And customers are your friends.

If I need something, I'll invent it.

You can change the world again, instead of protecting yourself from it.

Other people may well not find it relevant that you have forgiven yourself, but you need to know that it is not for them anyway. Everything at the moment is wholly about you.

A few years ago, a priest working in a slum section of a European city was asked why he was doing it, and replied, 'So that the rumor of God may not completely disappear.

The warmly cool, clear, ringing, perfumed, overflowing, redundant days, were as crystal goblets of Persian sherbet, heaped up—flaked up, with rose-water snow.

Our planet has a rising fever. If the crib catches fire you don't say: 'Hmmm, how fast is that crib going to burn? Has it ever burned before? Is my baby flame retardant?'

Reason can never reconcile one to life: nothing allays the wants one cannot explain.

I didn't know the organization, but the one thing you can say about the FBI, it's tremendously professional.

Good art theory must smell of the studio, although its language should differ from the household talk of painters and sculptors.

We must not forget that health is only a means to an end. If health were the end, we would be like animals; animals rarely become unhealthy.

And by the same token, I appreciate math, because I can't do math. If I have to read a map or figure out the tip on a restaurant bill, I might start to tear up a little bit.