Every first draft is perfect, because all a first draft has to do is exist.

Most of my childhood revolved around wondering when we would be blown up by the Russians. I couldn't stand the news, I knew that if the missile were launched, mortality would arrive in half an hour, so I spent a lot of my childhood feeling that I was 30 minutes from being dead.

Americans took a great deal too much credit for creating wealth, when most of the time they had really just been living off natural bounty unprecedented in the history of the world.

People are quite frequently eccentric.

In my experience, there is only one motivation, and that is desire. No reasons or principle contain it or stand against it.

The thing about Republicans is that they don't care so much about respect, but they love fear, at least in others.

Eavesdrop and write it down from memory - gives you a stronger sense of how people talk and what their concerns are. I love to eavesdrop!