The characters are telling you the story. I'm not telling you the story, they're going to do it. If I do it right, you will get the whole story.

Egotism is the art of seeing in yourself what others cannot see.

What You Lose on the Swings You Make Up on the Merry-Go-Round.

Life is hard but being stupid makes it harder.

Writing is the only trade I know of in which sniveling confessions of extreme incompetence are taken as credentials probative of powers to astound the multitude.

Show the reader what the character thinks about, and then the reader will think about it too.

You cannot write well without data.

The Red Sox are a religion. Every year we re-enact the agony and the temptation in the Garden. Baseball child's play? Hell, up here in Boston it's a passion play.

Nobody ever got started on a career as a writer by exercising good judgment, and no one ever will, either, so the sooner you break the habit of relying on yours, the faster you will advance.

The received image of a writer is that of an unproductive sensitive who suffers from the vapors, is enslaved by his gonads, falls victim to romantic swoons and passes out at deadlines.

Rental formal wear of the sky-blue, brocade and shiny varieties is favored by upwardly mobile young gangsters drafted as groomsmen for weddings.

Have your one good cry, pick your chin up, smile, and move on to the positive.

your love, your facial expression, your spirit and your words to the wise is my fervency: special for my mom and dad

One thing I can guarantee you. You may not be a great deal wiser from my talk today but you will be a great deal older.

When we surrender moral government to the courts, we have surrendered the very essence of freedom; we have surrendered its only real meaning, and we will not be free again until we get it back.

Nothing inhibits healing like shame.

They kind of go hand-in-hand. Following your motivation, resting when you need to rest, and going for it when you feel inspired.

My wife and I are both Libertarian; she was a Democrat and I was a Republican, and we both met in the middle somewhere.

I sense people expect something to show for ten years. But I do feel like it is dense. Some of my own favorite books are slim, but there's a lot of weight and power in them.

Nothing enduring can be built on violence.

If you can't travel to the developing world, look at helping to fund a woman with a small loan and follow her. Learn her story. Learn about the difference that you're making.