And he did see--that life was rotten, that there were no heroes, really, and that you couldn't trust anybody, not even yourself.

Everybody sins, Francis. The terrible thing is that we love our sins. We love the thing that makes us evil.

Don't miss the bus, boy. You're missing a lot of things in the world, better not miss that bus.

I simply write with an intelligent reader in mind. I don't think about how old they are.

It came to me that hell would not be fire and smoke after all but arctic, everything white and frigid. Hell would be not anger but indifference.

As much as there is joy in writing, there's always the little bit of terror to keep you on edge, on your toes. It is a strange way to occupy yourself - to enjoy your life on a daily basis. There is no guarantee that something great is going to come next.

I take real people and put them in extraordinary situations.