The world is a very complex and interesting place and that is what I really want my fiction to say: wake up to how amazing the world is.

Home is the first refuge from - and last defense against - the disappointments and the terrors of life.

As an adult I discovered that I was a pretty good autodidact, and can teach myself all kind of things. And developed a great interest in a number of different things from how to build a street hot rod from the ground up to quantum mechanics, and those two different kinds of mechanics, and it was really in the sciences, quantum mechanics, molecular biology, I would begin looking at these things looking for ideas, but in fact you don't read it for ideas you read it for curiosity and interest in the subject.

What most people find important, you do not. This is Wisdom. To what you believe is important, you are ready to give your mind, heart, and soul. This is Grace.

A plot without action is like pasta without garlic, like Dolly Parton without cleavage, and like a writer without his similes.

Atlas isn't carrying the world on his shoulders, no giant muscular hulk with a sense of responsibility; the world is balanced on a pyramid of clowns, and they are always tooting horns and wobbling and goosing each other.

I really believe that everyone has a talent, ability, or skill that he can mine to support himself and to succeed in life.