I wanted to be a painter.

The second we see somebody on the street or meet someone, we make snap judgments about them, about who they are and why we wouldn't necessarily sit with them or why we would or what's cool or not cool.

I don't want to wait more than a year and a half or two years between books.

It's just something that's sort of funny, sort of not.

Milkmen seem so wholesome, and there's no way anybody can be that wholesome.

We live in a society that blames everybody else for what's wrong.

People get really caught up in their own trips.

We all have our pet things that we like to get religious about.

You ever try to go a day without judgment?

Yeah, I don't deal with current events or pop culture, and I avoid politics like the plague.

That's not so important to me, that time thing.

People are going to behave however the social norms permit, and beyond that.

I wanted to be a painter.

I am too old for an eyebrow piercing but too young for an eyebrow lift.

Now interpersonal politics... that's what it's all about.

As soon as I can afford a studio space, I'll paint again.

I just thought I'd take a break from publishing for a while.

I'm just trying to portray what I find ironic or humorous.

People are essentially red meat. They are.

I imagine I'll continue on doing it for many years to come.

I just don't want anyone messing around with my pure smoking pleasure.

I grew up in a military family, and there's something about that military-style uniform, all cleaned up, a brutal control effort the military necessarily breeds.

These censorship people think something is going to promote behavior in people.

I hope to actually get back to painting someday... soon. I sort of transitioned into cartooning from painting.

We're going to have the same demographic spread of nutcases and the same spread of everybody in between.

I was doing illustration work, and the cartooning slowly took over.

But if I'm going to cause somebody else discomfort by my actions, then I should probably modify my actions toward them to make them as comfortable as possible.

What really grabs me about living in Tucson is the color beige.

Well, I am a lot like my dad, and the character of Ted is based on my dad.

Medicine was certainly intended to be a career. I wanted to become a psychiatrist, an adolescent ambition which, of course, is fulfilled by many psychiatrists.

Every time I see a cardinal, I know my grandmother is with me. This regal, red bird was Grandma's favorite.

Since emotions are merely information, there are no good or bad, right or wrong emotions.

Philip Pullman and Jacqueline Wilson have both been writing for a long time. In 30 years, will writers of that quality have been able to serve the same sort of apprenticeship? Not unless they can make enough money now to live on.

Life is magical when we are bold and have the courage to move forward into the unknown, rather than backwards into security.

As far back as 2008, the Canadian Forces brass was explicit: drones with 'all-weather precision strike capabilities' were a 'requirement' for Canada's overseas operations.

We like no noise unless we make it ourselves.

All Americans knew was 'The Joy Luck Club' and children of dry cleaners trying to assimilate. The Asia that I was seeing was a world of people who are incredibly sophisticated, and I wanted to represent that side.

Today Americans are overcome not by the sense of endless possibility but by the banality of the social order they have erected against it.

I have seen the best of you, and the worst of you, and I choose both.

Aw I don't wanta go to no such thing, I just wanta drink in alleys.'... But you'll miss all that, just for some old wine.' There's wisdom in wine, goddam it!' I yelled. 'Have a shot!'

I love to play with textures and colors. I mix them together like I would in a painting.

The best part of being a mom to me is the unconditional love. I have never felt alove as pure, a love that's as rewarding.

Relationships do not happen in abstraction. They need a place; they need a centre, even a home.

The death clock is ticking slowly in our breast and each drop of blood measures its time and our life is a lingering fever.

I tried to change the world but I was outnumbered.

I'm a sports fan. I'm not just an athlete who plays football.

I try to act with my whole body and, for better or worse, this is the face that's attached to it.

A lot of the people I'd love to work with, like John Lennon, Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, aren't alive, unfortunately.

From the cradle to the grave she is subject to the power and control of man. Father, guardian, or husband, one conveys her like some piece of merchandise over to the other.