It's a writer's job to carve with language, to hew close to the bone.

It's a cash and carry world. Sometimes you pay a little. Mostly it's a lot. Sometimes, it's everything you have.

Fantasy has a better chance of lasting than a lot of other things. The Hobbit and the Narnia books, they seem to get handed down father to son, mother to daughter. Because they're set in a fantasy world, they can remain relevant.

The quickest way to learn about a new place is to know what it dreams of.

Only enemies speak the truth; friends and lovers lie endlessly, caught in the web of duty.

Working on a new idea is kind of like getting married. Then a new idea comes along and you think, 'Man, I'd really like to go out with her.' But you can't. At least not until the old idea is finished.

Most people are optimists, although they may claim they are not. People who call themselves realists are often the biggest optimists of all.