The thing that motivates me is a very common form of motivation. And that is, with other folks counting on me, it's so easy to be motivated.

Real estate is the key cost of physical retailers. That's why there's the old saw: location, location, location.

The book is not really the container for the book. The book itself is the narrative. It's the thing that people create.

I'm skeptical that the novel will be "re­invented." If you start thinking about a medical textbook or something, then, yes, I think that's ripe for reinvention. You can imagine animations of a beating heart. But I think the novel will thrive in its current form. That doesn't mean that there won't be new narrative inventions as well. But I don't think they'll displace the novel.

The one thing that offends me the most is when I walk by a bank and see ads trying to convince people to take out second mortgages on their home so they can go on vacation. That's approaching evil.

If you only do things where you know the answer in advance, your company goes away.

We are at the 1908 Hurley washing machine stage with the Internet.