The scholar's greatest weakness: calling procrastination research.

Poe was the first writer to write about main characters who were bad guys or who were mad guys, and those are some of my favorite stories.

Talent renders the whole idea of rehearsal meaningless; when you find something at which you are talented, you do it (whatever it is) until your fingers bleed or your eyes are ready to fall out of your head. Even when no one is listening (or reading or watching), every outing is a bravura performance, because you as the creator are happy. Perhaps even ecstatic.

Animals don't know as much about jealousy as people, but they're not ignorant of it, either.

Upon being asked by a fan how to become a writer, Stephen King replied, "Write.

I love crime, I love mysteries, and I love ghosts.

He supposed that even in Hell, people got an occasional sip of water, if only so they could appreciate the full horror of unrequited thirst when it set in again.