Sadness is no more than a bit of acid transfixed in the cerebellum.

All writers have roots they draw from - travel, work, family. My roots are in science and it is fertile ground for fiction.

I have a family and you know very well the time that that takes. That's good time. I have a couple hobbies. I'm a runner and play tennis. In the summer my family and I uproot ourselves and go live in Maine for the summer. We have a house on a very tiny island in Maine. Which is really my spiritual center. We've been going there for ten years, and it has no ferry service, no bridges, no telephone service. It's really isolated.

I think Joe Leiberman has been one of the leaders of the country... people have such a broad respect for him as a moral force.

I have a number of vague ideas where I just have the core or kernel of the idea. I feel like I need some time for my mind to fill up again. I feel empty. Right now.

For my students who are trying to learn the craft of writing in a writing class - contemporary literature is what's most useful.

The tragedy of this world is that no one is happy, whether stuck in a time of pain or joy.