I woke up at five o'clock in the morning with the whole first paragraph in my head. Now, this just shows what a slothful person I am: I tried to go back to sleep.

I hate writing. I will do anything to avoid it. The only way I could write less was if I was dead.

Children ask better questions than adults. "May I have a cookie?" "Why is the sky blue?" and "What does a cow say?" are far more likely to elicit a cheerful response than "Where's your manuscript?" "Why haven't you called?" and "Who's your lawyer?"

[Friendships] are easy to get out of compared to love affairs, but they are not easy to get out of compared to, say, jail.

To lose yourself in a book is the desire of the bookworm. I mean to be taken. That is my desire.

I've done the calculation and your chances of winning the lottery are identical whether you play or not.

When I fly, I'm never afraid the plane is going to crash. But there have often been times when I was afraid it wouldn't crash. I was just afraid it was going to circle O'Hare for the rest of my life.