The feeling of being an underdog, not belonging, is very much me. You harbour a little feeling of resentment towards the 'upper dog'.

It is so much hard work writing your first novel. You're not even sure that it is possible to do.

I don't think there is anything wrong with learning from people who are better than you.

Because you're a crime writer you're asked to have a point of view on a lot of things, and I'm uncomfortable having public opinions on things that are not my professional area.

Stocks may come and stocks may go, but food goes on forever.

When the lyrical content is based on the word of God it becomes covenanted.

Sometimes you ask God for something and you don't know what you're asking.

I don't just want my books to be about the '30s and '40s. I want them to read as if they had been written then. I think of them as '40s novels, written in the conservative narrative past.

Because I write very simply, but inside the simplicity, there's a lot of subtlety. That's what I'm proud of.

President Obama came to visit me in the hospital. He said, 'I wish you were still in the Senate; I need your help.' I'm not certain I can help on everything. Maybe some things.

It gets boring at home. How many reruns of Abbott and Costello movies can a guy watch on TV?

Computers are good at following instructions, but not at reading your mind.

Oh, I wish I organized my books. But I don't. I'm not an organized person. The best I can do is put the books I really like in one sort of general area, and poetry in another.

Communism is like prohibition, it is a good idea, but it won't work.