There is no creation without tradition; the 'new' is an inflection on a preceding form; novelty is always a variation on the past.

Don't classify me, read me. I'm a writer, not a genre.

Recognize yourself in he and she who are not like you and me.

Writing is a struggle against silence.

The United States has written the white history of the United States. It now needs to write the black, Latino, Indian, Asian and Caribbean history of the United States.

Art gives life to what history killed. Art gives voice to what history denied, silenced, or persecuted. Art brings truth to the lies of history.

I need, therefore I imagine.

One wants to tell a story, like Scheherezade, in order not to die. It's one of the oldest urges in mankind. It's a way of stalling death.

What's happened at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq is one of the grossest violations of human rights under the Geneva Conventions that we have record of. It is simply monstrous.

Literature overtakes history, for literature gives you more than one life. It expands experience and opens new opportunities to readers.

You start by writing to live. You end by writing so as not to die.

A friend who shares is a friend who cares.

Judges should decide legal disputes. Judges should not make law.

I love living in Utah. I was born here but raised in L.A., but we decided about 13, 14 years ago to come here to Utah.

We want a Supreme Court which will do justice under the Constitution - not over it. In our courts we want a government of laws and not of men.

The mind has three operations: the formation of ideas, judgements and reasoning.

One of the questions that I often get is, 'Why are you running to be President?'. To Be President! What did I miss? I'm not running to go to Disneyland.

The bad thing of war is, that it makes more evil people than it can take away.

Production is not the application of tools to materials, but logic to work.

When I am alone I am happy.

If an accident happens in a plant, the aftermath will be unimaginable.