I am a strong believer in the tyranny, the dictatorship, the absolute authority of the writer.

If you want to write anything that works, you have to go with the grain of your talent, not against it. If your talent is inert and sullen in the face of business or politics...but takes fire at the thought of ghosts and vampires and witches and demons then feed the flames, feed the flames.

...his face bore an expression that mingled haughty disdain with a tender, ardent sympathy, as if he would love all things if only his nature could let him forget their defects.

We measure the value of a civilized society by the number of #‎ libraries it opens, not the number it closes down.

What is worth having is worth working for.

He's [Jesus] the most fascinating character in history, really - the character who's made more difference to the world than anyone since him. I daresay that Muslims would say Muhammad was that character, but I think Jesus had a sort of 600-year start on him.

Lee was too cool by nature to rage at fate; his manner was to raise an eyebrow and greet it laconically.