If a writer knows what he or she is doing, I'll go along for the ride. If he or she doesn't... well, I'm in my fifties now, and there are a lot of books out there. I don't have time to waste with the poorly written ones.

Shall there be truth between us, as two men? Not as friends, but as enemies and equals?

I can't understand why people use religion to hurt each other when there's already so much pain in the world.

I don't really map anything out. I just let it happen [while writing]. But once it happens, it's always there. If it's laid, it's played. If I get to page 300 and it's not working, I junk it.

American grammar doesn't have the sturdiness of British grammar, but it has its own scruffy charm.

It didn´t occur to me until later that there´s another truth, very simple: greed in a good cause is still greed.

You know, small children take it as a matter of course that things will change every day and grown-ups understand that things change sooner or later and their job is to keep them from changing as long as possible. It’s only kids in high school who are convinced they’re never going to change. There’s always going to be a pep rally and there’s always going to be a spectator bus, somewhere out there in their future.