There is a part of me that still wants to go out and grab a backpack and unplug - not take a cellphone or even a camera and just get out there and experience the world and travel. I have yet to do that, but someday I hope.

This is one of the benefits, as well as one of the difficulties of directing a member of your family. You know where the buttons are. You can push them if you want.

We don't think about pilgrimage in this country. We don't think about meditation. The idea of taking a six-week walk is totally foreign to most Americans. But it's probably exactly what we need.

I'm a wonderful disaster. So are you. We're all a mess. We're in this culture that says take this pill and you'll be happy, go on this diet and you'll be thinner, have your teeth whitened, people will love you more.

Americans are probably more in line than ever before. We're more moderate than we are liberal or conservative.

Writing is a lonely job, unless you're a drinker, in which case you always have a friend within reach.

In the current climate, we live in a pessimistic and non-idealistic world.