The rulings of the past do not always apply in the present.

The business of writing is empathising with situations that aren't your own.

Problem was that we could make things worse but we couldn't make anything better.

Write what you care about and understand. Writers should never try to outguess the marketplace in search of a salable idea; the simple truth is that all good books will eventually find a publisher if the writer tries hard enough, and a central secret to writing a good book is to write on that people like you will enjoy.

Before Bin Laden did everything but advertise. Yet he had to blow up the Twin Towers just to get the attention of anyone outside the intelligence community. So what did we do? We invaded the wrong country, killed the wrong madman, and too often used the wrong interrogation techniques on the wrong people-all because our leaders lost contact with the truth.

Writing seems like the only job where what you think and feel really matters.

No one should be judged by the worst moment of his life.