It's extremely difficult to get these jobs because you can't get a job on a ship unless you have seaman's paper's, and you can't get seaman's papers unless you have a job on a ship. There had to be a way to break through the circle, and he was the one who arranged it for me.

Money's important. Everyone cares about money. And when you don't have money, money becomes the overriding obsession of your life.

Wounds are an essential part of life, and until you are wounded in some way, you cannot become a man.

Writing makes you feel that there is a reason to go on living. If I couldn't write, I would stop breathing.

Books demand more. You have to be a more active participant.

I never experiment with anything in my books. Experimentation means you don't know what you're doing.

I hate reading digital books. I don't enjoy the experience. I like smelling the paper, turning the pages. I think the book as we've always known it is an efficient technology.