Very few of my books are about who stole the Maltese Falcon

Coincidence exists, but believing in it never did me any good.

Teaching is too strong a word for whatever it was I did at Northeastern University

It's tempting to say the Ph.D. didn't have an effect, but it's not so. I think whatever resonance I may be able to achieve is in part simply from the amount of reading and learning that I acquired along the way

I write five pages a day. If you would read five pages a day, we'd stay right even.

I took my .38 out and looked to see that there were bullets in all the proper places. I knew there would be, but it did no harm to be careful. And I'd seen Clint Eastwood do it once in the movies.

Well, you give me too much credit for foresight and planning. I haven't got a clue what the hell I'm doing.