One of the reasons I became a writer is that, unlike starting a band, directing movies, or acting in a theatrical production, you can do it alone. Your success and failure depend entirely on yourself.

He was telling the students about the hypnotic technique of using quotes in a conversation. An idea is more palatable ... if it comes from someone else. The unconscious thinks in terms of content and structure. If you introduce a pattern with the words, 'My friend was telling me,' the critical part of her mind shuts off.

Men are a hundred times worse than you can imagine. We are thinking the worst, shallowest thoughts, all the time.

Without commitment, you cannot have depth in anything, whether it's a relationship, a business or a hobby.

Fame won't make you feel any better about yourself.

In life, people tend to wait for good things to come to them. And by waiting, they miss out.

When the Internet first came into public use, it was hailed as a liberation from conformity, a floating world ruled by passion, creativity, innovation and freedom of information. When it was hijacked first by advertising and then by commerce, it seemed like it had been fully co-opted and brought into line with human greed and ambition.