I must be like the princess who felt the pea through seven mattresses; each book is a pea.

The doctor who applied a stethoscope to my heart was not satisfied. I was told to get my papers with the clerk in the outer hall. I was medically rejected.

The work is with me when I wake up in the morning; it is with me while I eat my breakfast in bed and run through the newspaper, while I shave and bathe and dress.

I must be like the princess who felt the pea through seven mattresses; each book is a pea.

The fools ran after me and I ran after the whores, foolish though I realized such a proceeding to be.

There is no other way of writing a novel than to begin at the beginning at to continue to the end.

They managed to find time... to tell me that there was no chance of my being accepted for service and that really I should be surprised to still be alive.

A man who writes for a living does not have to go anywhere in particular, and he could rarely afford to if he wanted.

Perhaps that suspicion of fraud enhances the flavor.

I have heard of novels started in the middle, at the end, written in patches to be joined together later, but I have never felt the slightest desire to do this.

Novel writing wrecks homes.

I formed a resolution to never write a word I did not want to write; to think only of my own tastes and ideals, without a thought of those of editors or publishers.

A whim, a passing mood, readily induces the novelist to move hearth and home elsewhere. He can always plead work as an excuse to get him out of the clutches of bothersome hosts.

With two people and luggage on board she draws four inches of water. Two canoe paddles will move her along at a speed reasonable enough in moderate currents.

The material came bubbling up inside like a geyser or an oil gusher. It streamed up of its own accord, down my arm and out of my fountain pen in a torrent of six thousand words a day.

There is still need to think and plan, but on a different scale, and along different lines.

Everything was in stark and dreadful contrast with the trivial crises and counterfeit emotions of Hollywood, and I returned to England deeply moved and emotionally worn out.

When I die there may be a paragraph or two in the newspapers. My name will linger in the British Museum Reading Room catalogue for a space at the head of a long list of books for which no one will ever ask.

Novel writing is far and away the most exhausting work I know.

Every kid has a bug period... I never grew out of mine.

Traditionally, open-minded secular liberal rationalists have not made a case for tolerance.

To be able to walk out the door when you come home from a job and wander into the garden to do a bit of watering gives you time to be creative in your mind.

Waking up to who you are requires letting go of who you imagine yourself to be.

Better be killed than frightened to death.

I'm trying to convey to my audience that you really can't judge a book by its cover, and there's more to the universe than you can see with your eyes.

There are people who could watch a hurricane like Sandy blow out of the Atlantic every other day and blame it on anything but human activity. They are like those who, having been diagnosed with diabetes, eat donuts for breakfast. There's not much to do about them.

You cannot reduce the power of story with the tag of money because it's not a share market. So you must know the seriousness of the power of storytelling.

We should not be waiting until trains derail, bridges collapse and people die to adequately fund our transportation infrastructure.

I will only praise someone who can't take anything away from me.

Create caring and robust connections between every employee and their work customers leaders managers and the organization to achieve results that matter to everyone in this sentence.

I can't write in a whole lot of different styles, trying to please the highbrows one time and the lowbrows the next. I pretty much have a basic style I employ.

The first time I showed the tattoo, it was big news in the newspaper: 'She has a tattoo with a snake.' It's not a snake.

The King did what all wise husbands do. He did as he was told.

Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.

For fossils to thrive, certain favorable circumstances are required. First of all, of course, remnants of life have to be there. These then need to be washed over with water as soon as possible, so that the bones are covered with a layer of sediment.

Across the globe, regardless of nationality or financial status, there is a common dream every mother has for her children - for them to live full, healthy and productive lives. As a mother, I share that dream for my children.

Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing.

The '90s were a time of building for me. Building a life that was sober, drained of harmful, wasteful excess and manufacturing in its place a family of my own.

I don't approach films purely in context of genre.

The world awaits Beijing's hosting of the 2008 Olympics, an occasion which will bring into the global spotlight the dramatic advances China is making in enhancing the quality of life for its people.

Music - it's the only thing that can enter your system, your mind, your heart, without your permission.

Limitations seem real when we lack faith and belief. With faith and belief, anything is possible.

Life is a journey of mind. And man is the vessel that carries this mind. Therefore based on this premise it is safe to conclude that man does not evolve, but mind does.