The thing about youthful offenders is that no one seems to care about them. Most people don't like adolescents - even the good ones can be snarky and unpleasant. Combine the antipathy we feel toward the average teenager with the fear inspired by youth violence, and you have a population that no one wants to deal with.

I love the novel of 'The English Patient'; I think it's a profoundly beautiful novel. I love the movie of 'The English Patient'; I think it's a profoundly beautiful movie. And they're totally different. You accept each on its own terms, and that's kind of the ideal.

So many women today have become so focused on their children, they've developed these romantic entanglements with their children's lives, and the husbands are secondary. They're left out. And the romantic focus is on the children.

The only difference between a writer and someone who wants to be a writer is discipline.

When you consider America, there are hundreds of millions of people who have smoked marijuana illegally.

Being a public defender makes you incredibly paranoid - and I would say with reason - about law enforcement.

You know, I feel like my job is to write a book. Then filmmakers come and they make a movie. And they're two really different art forms.