I always felt, you don’t have a good time doin crime, you may as well find a job.

I won't read a book that starts with a description of the weather. I don't read books over 300 pages, though I'll make an exception for Don Delillo.

Avoid prologues: they can be ­annoying, especially a prologue ­following an introduction that comes after a foreword.

I left advertising as fast as I could in 1961. And I haven't ever thought about going back.

Bad guys are not bad guys twenty-four hours a day.

I never see my bad guys as simply bad. They want pretty much the same thing that you and I want: they want to be happy.

I don't get in a position to be frightened. I don't do anything dangerous, and I always pay my bills.