There has to be some mystery in life, because the joy of being a writer and the joy of being a musician is the joy of discovery. I don't want someone discovering for me what I should be discovering on my own. If a person is discovering for me, then they're living for me. It's my responsibility, indeed it's my privilege, to go out and discover the world for myself.

I'd like to do something involving jazz. But books are how I earn my living, and I'd like to stay with the horse I rode in on.

If you have the material it will form itself as a kind of connective tissue.

First person narrative is a very effective tool but you have to know as a writer how to make it work.

I'm proud of 'Miracle at St. Anna' and I loved it; there's no question in my mind it's as good as any movie that came out in 2007.

God is the color of water. Water doesn't have a color.

It is hard to find romance in the present because there's nothing left to the imagination.