There was a time when nails were high-tech. There was a time when people had to be told how to use a telephone. Technology is just a tool. People use tools to improve their lives.

Colleges typically did not tell you that ninety percent of your education came after you hung the parchment on the wall. People might ask for a rebate.

Two questions form the foundation of all novels: "What if?" and "What next?" (A third question, "What now?", is one the author asks himself every 10 minutes or so; but it's more a cry than a question.) Every novel begins with the speculative question, What if "X" happened? That's how you start.

I'd rather talk to people who do things than complain about other people who do things. I say they're idiots.

Life is about learning; when you stop learning, you die.

"Literature" is written material that, 100 years after the death of the author, is forced upon high school students.

Probably what pushed the Russians over the edge was SDI... They realized they couldn't beat us...