I would normally never set out to write a trilogy.

My first duty to write a gripping yarn. Second is to convey credible characters who make you feel what they feel. Only third comes the idea.

We already live a very long time for mammals, getting three times as many heartbeats as a mouse or elephant. It never seems enough though, does it?

When it comes to privacy and accountability, people always demand the former for themselves and the latter for everyone else.

My education and background thoroughly inform my writing.

Anyone who wants simple, pat stories should buy another author's product. The real universe ain't that way, and neither are my fictive ones.

The worst mistake of first contact, made throughout history by individuals on both sides of every new encounter, has been the unfortunate habit of making assumptions. It often proved fatal.

It is said that power corrupts, but actually it's more true that power attracts the corruptible. The sane are usually attracted by other things than power.

I would normally never set out to write a trilogy.

But honestly, if you do a rigorous survey of my work, I'll bet you'll find that biology is a theme far more often than physical science.

In the book, America had already been weakened by bio terror plagues before waves of selfish violence took down the rest. But the real enemy was the kind of male human being who nurses fantasies of violent glory at the expense of his fellow citizens.

Why must conversions always come so late? Why do people always apologize to corpses?

Predicting has a spotty record in science fiction. I've had some failures. On the other hand, I also predicted the fall of the Berlin Wall and the rise of fundamentalist Islam... and I'm not happy to be right in all of those cases.

Above all, TRIBES is fun, and even kind of sexy... in that every round features an Opportunity for Reproduction, which is the main aim of the game, as it is in most of Nature.

Self-righteous people can talk themselves into forgetting they are part of a civilization. They can then feed on that culture, bringing it down. It's happened many times in the past. It could happen to us.

When I begin a book, I inevitably discover many things along the way, about the characters, their past histories and the political intrigues that surround them. This discovery process is vital, and I would not prejudice it by deciding too much in advance.

I find humans tremendously interesting.

Only a knowledgeable, empowered and vocal citizenry can perform well in democracy.

Fortunately, human beings are remarkably diverse models to work from.

There's no doubt that scientific training helps many authors to write better science fiction. And yet, several of the very best were English majors who could not parse a differential equation to save their lives.

I like to be surprised. Fresh implications and plot twists erupt as a story unfolds. Characters develop backgrounds, adding depth and feeling. Writing feels like exploring.

One of the rules I try to follow is that normal people are going to be involved even in heroic events.

But it is a delightful challenge to try to depict interesting aliens.

Change is the principal feature of our age and literature should explore how people deal with it. The best science fiction does that, head-on.

She had called in the debt that parents owe a child for bringing her, unasked, into a strange world. One should never make an offer without knowing full well what will happen if it is accepted.

Only people with full stomachs become environmentalists.

Self awareness is probably overrated. A complex, self regulating system doesn't need it in order to be successful, or even smart.

Happy is he who still loves something he loved in the nursery: He has not been broken in two by time; he is not two men, but one, and he has saved not only his soul but his life.

The Bible calls us to love our neighbors, and to do justice and love kindness, not to indiscriminately kill one another.

As we women know, there are so many other hurdles that we have to cross that I would love it if we could stop having the race conversation so that we can get women further on. You know, a female president now that we have an African American president. Maybe we can get an Asian female, a gay person?

Hate is not the opposite of love; apathy is.

I think I came to see Islam, or at least one part of Islam, as an important defense mechanism against the commercialization of the world.

Chadaris, as far as I'm concerned, I think should be a personal choice of the women and the members of her family. I personally would not wear a chadari.

In the early days, I had everything to prove. A very working class lad with a burning ambition. A very crude way of measuring success is how much you are worth.

In everything I write, I'm always striving to hit the right mix of light and darkness, humor and pain, fun and seriousness.

Our world is evolving without consideration, and the result is a loss of biodiversity, energy issues, congestion in cities. But geography, if used correctly, can be used to redesign sustainable and more livable cities.

All painting, beginning with Impressionism, is antiscientific, even Seurat. I was interested in introducing the precise and exact aspect of science, which hadn't often been done, or at least hadn't been talked about very much.

Who fed me from her gentle breast And hushed me in her arms to rest, And on my cheek sweet kisses prest? My Mother.

I was not an outstanding student. I did a reasonable amount of work. I got generally good pretty good grades but I was not that passionate about getting straight As.

Philosophy is tested and characterised by the way in which it appropriates its history.

Because there is actually something very interesting in Goodfellas, how the style of the film changes as time goes by and based on the mental state of the protagonist.

Even after I got my divorce, the ink wasn't even dry on the paper, and I said, 'Ooh, the next time I become a wife, I got this thing down pat!' I always believed that there was someone built for me.

God is being taken out of schools; children are not being raised in church learning the word; many parents are living lives unto themselves, exalting substance rather than Jesus Christ, and those looking for answers are going to church and finding the word is not being preached. There are consequences to these decisions.

Creativity is your best makeup skill, don't be afraid to experiment.

Chemistry has been termed by the physicist as the messy part of physics but this is not the reason why the physicists should be allowed to make a mess of chemistry when they invade it.

In emerging markets, slow growth in the advanced economies has shut down a traditional development path: export-led growth. As a result, emerging markets have had to rely once again on domestic demand. This is always a difficult task, given the temptation to over-stimulate.

If youre planning only to make money and nothing else youll be broke.

If the Cowboys and Titans ain't playing, I'm not interested.

Life without God is a long and fruitless search for enjoyment, meaning, and fulfillment.