When I'm working on a novel, I work 70-hour weeks.

The functions of intellect are insufficient without courage, love, friendship, compassion and empathy.

The whisper of the dusk is night shedding its husk.

Where there is cake, there is hope. And there is always cake.

Petting, scratching, and cuddling a dog could be as soothing to the mind and heart as deep meditation and almost as good for the soul as prayer.

Nothing is worse than being alone on the evening of the day when one's cow has exploded.

Only once in a generation does anything as fresh as a vomiting detective come along.

The hands of every clock are shears, trimming us away scrap by scrap, and every time piece with a digital readout blinks us towards implosion.

Most people tend to think the best of those who are blessed with beauty; we have difficulty imagining that physical perfection can conceal twisted emotions or a damaged mind.

Any drunk who has tried to put his car where a lamppost stands is a self-educated physicist.

Given my heritage and the ordeal of my childhood, I sometimes wonder why I myself am not insane. Maybe I am.

The new republic should be based on diversity, respect and equal rights for all.

Let every man judge according to his own standards, by what he has himself read, not by what others tell him.

The principle of love within us is an attribute of the Deity, and it is placed within us to be dispensed independently according to our own will.

Lawrence of Arabia is the ultimate movie, deeply cinematic.

A single event can shape our lives or change the course of history.

...Ned always said that the man who passes the sentence should swing the blade, though he never took any joy in the duty. But I would, oh, yes.

After the tsunami in Japan, we were open for business. In fact, I flew there 10 days after the tsunami to show our support for the Japanese people.

Great men honour intelligence, little men honour stupidity.

Remember that there is no happiness in having or in getting, but only in giving.

...true self-esteem comes from competence, not the other way around.