Completely committed to adapting 'Fifty Shades of Grey'. This is not a joke. Christian Grey and Ana: potentially great cinematic characters.

The numbing lists of things you were supposed to have as an American to make you happy, which ultimately, of course, don't. Those aren't the things that make you happy.

I write books to relieve ­myself of pain. That's the prime motivator to write. Period.

The better you look, the more you see.

I've been accused of being very vain about my apathy.

I like the idea of a writer being haunted by his own creation, especially if the writer resents the way the character defines him.

You don't market-research a novel; you really are writing it for yourself. It's a hobby, in many ways. The problem becomes what you do when you're confronted by criticism. You just don't listen to it.