German readers are much like Brits or Americans: They read for the thrill of it, the occasional shudder down the spine, knowing it's not real - but looking over their shoulders anyway, just in case.

But other vampire stories? Well, no, I really haven't read too many, and I can't say I'm crazy about romantic vampires anyway - to me the vampire is simply an evil monster.

A literary critic is someone who can't write, but who loves to show he would have been a wonderful writer if only he could!

I'll know when the ideas aren't fresh anymore. And I'll know when writing doesn't give me a thrill anymore.

German readers are much like Brits or Americans: They read for the thrill of it, the occasional shudder down the spine, knowing it's not real - but looking over their shoulders anyway, just in case.

Now, after 18 years, not a sign of Lovecraft in my work.

Writers are in the entertainment business, and it gives me lots of pleasure to entertain my readers.

I should think just about every young writer - which I was at the time - would be influenced by HPL. As an American writer of weird fiction, he was at the top of the class.

But there's a little guy who sits astride my brain with a whip, and if I'm away from the machine for more than a couple of hours during the day, this little guy's lashing away.

If I had killed Crow off I can think of least six novels I would never have written, 400,000 words' worth of very necessary experience.

If, like Harry Keogh, I could talk to the dead - God, there are an awful lot of people I would like to speak to! Not least my father. Being in the army for 22 years, I didn't see enough of him, and I know there are a great many things I could have learned from him.

But I've found that to talk too much about movies is the kiss of death. If it happens then it happens, is all.

And I have to consider myself fortunate, because there are plenty of writers who spend most of a lifetime looking for that certain something without ever finding it.

We've got one life and the older we get the more we come to realize how short it is.

Now, when I was in the Army, writing was my hobby.

The Army was my bread and butter.

I have friends who read my books in Greek.

There are lots of other things that I haven't done, places I haven't seen. So eventually I'll have to find time for those things while there still is time.

The amazing thing now is that most of those so-called critics who were telling me to find my own voice seem to have lost theirs.

Depression is like a bruise that never goes away. A bruise in your mind. You just got to be careful not to touch it where it hurts. Its always there though.

I don't want to continue to do what I did when I was 20. I would like to continue to develop myself and not continue to hang around with bands.

What was funny if you were there is that we were all immensely sophisticated people who knew exactly what she was going to say and we're chatting away, nice to see you.

I've worked out for years. For a long time, it was my only sense of gratification.

Every 10 years or so, there was a moment when I'd say, even subconsciously, 'Is that all there is?' You've got to find ways to keep it fresh for yourself.

When a restaurant is too popular, it starts to harm the reason you are there.

We always think, 'Well, for a person who's blind, it must be an amazing, joyful miracle if by some chance their sight is restored to them.' Now, this may be true for blind people who lost their vision at a later age. It's rarely true for people who were born blind or who go blind at a very young age.

I try to eat on the healthier side, but baked goods are hard to resist. I just love sweet things.

Since the inception of Gym Class in 1997, every member has had another musical outlet, if not three or four.

It's hard to believe the life that 'Someone Like You' has taken on. It's proof that people hunger for great songs - and they are open to different interpretations of songs they love.

There is no substitute for your impassioned prayers on behalf of your children

Power is so characteristically calm that calmness in itself has the aspect of strength.

There is an aesthetic excitement about painting which is one of the most beautiful experiences that can be. Put things down while you feel that joy.

I don't know about you, but I lie awake nights worrying about Canadian uranium. I know these people. I grew up there. You have no idea what they're capable of doing. If Sidney Crosby hadn't scored that goal to win the Olympic gold medal, there's no telling what might have ensued.

I loved teaching. I used to teach fourth grade.

For me, acting is a series of impressions rather than trying to find one line through to the end, which risks becoming more of a presentation.

I'm an actor. And I guess I've done so many movies I've achieved some high visibility. But a star? I guess I still think of myself as kind of a worker ant.

The very least you can do in your life is to figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do is live inside that hope. Not admire it from a distance but live right in it, under its roof.

Pain is weakness leaving the body.

Now Congress learns that the Veterans Administration failed to provide complete, accurate information on the money it needs for both this year and next year.

The path to your success is not as fixed and inflexible as you think.

The perception of linked fate and that feeling of being always on the spot as a representative of the race, at least in mixed company, are features of African American life that predate affirmative action and arise outside of its presence.

If I wrestle the way I can, I won't lose. That's the way I feel going to London.

I knew I was a winner back in the late sixties. I knew I was destined for great things. People will say that kind of thinking is totally immodest. I agree. Modesty is not a word that applies to me in any way - I hope it never will.