I like a book better if I can't predict what's going to happen.

Unfortunately our nation, nay, our world, is run by evil morons.

If you think of your life as a kind of computation, it's quite abundantly clear that there's not going to be a final answer and there won't be anything particularly wonderful about having the computation halt!

One of the nice things about science fiction is that it lets us carry out thought experiments.

Traditional science is all about finding shortcuts.

In any case, A New Kind of Science is a wonderful book, and I'm still absorbing its teachings.

The hard fact is that not everyone does get published.

It's soothing to realize that my mind's processes are inherently uncontrollable.

But how does it feel to plug into a system that's say, a million times as smart as a person.

All living things are gnarly, in that they inevitably do things that are much more complex than one might have expected.

I like a book better if I can't predict what's going to happen.

Electronic distribution is more of a fall-back strategy for putting out a book that isn't deemed profitable enough to print. You hardly make any money publishing an electronic book.

I like to do things that are surprising and different.

Selling a book or story has never become absolutely automatic for me.

A computation is a process that obeys finitely describable rules.

Science fiction writers put characters into a world with arbitrary rules and work out what happens.

Computations are everywhere, once you begin to look at things in a certain way.

If we suppose that many natural phenomena are in effect computations, the study of computer science can tell us about the kinds of natural phenomena that can occur.

Lately I've been working to convince myself that everything is a computation.

Now, being a science fiction writer, when I see a natural principle, I wonder if it could fail.

I think dry nanotechnology is probably a dead-end.

Advice to beginning SF writers? Write a lot, finish what you write, and when it's done, keep sending it out for quite awhile.

At present, however, I don't think the Net is a very good medium for books, books should really be inexpensive lightweight paperbacks you can bang around.

If all else fails, there's always print or web zines.

It's tedious to watch something very obvious being worked out, like a movie that's not particularly good and after about half an hour you know how it's going to end.

Some ideas you have to chew on, then roll them around a lot, play with them before you can turn them into funky science fiction.

Everybody has some dysfunction in their families.

I love meat - I'm Cuban; I grew up eating meat, platanos, and arroz con pollo. I don't believe in starving yourself, but sometimes I do cleanses and diets to prepare for a role.

Songwriting requires some sort of ceremony to even get the process started, and it can be somewhat arbitrary.

You must still stand up and say no when society is facing a backslide or a moment of danger.

I think the first time I realised 'Downton Abbey' was a hit was when I was sitting in a tea shop in New York and the couple next to me were talking about 'Downton Abbey,' and then they recognised me.

We who grew up with 'drop and cover' drills know all too well what wonders science can bring us, and we like to see the guy in the white lab coat suffer a little. Or a lot.

There is no glory in war, yet from the blackness of its history, there emerge vivid colours of human character and courage. Those who risked their lives to help their friends.

It's good to put on some lube under your wetsuit, so I tend to use a lot of baby oil on my arms and legs. It stops you chafing and helps you get your wetsuit off after the swim.

I think people like comedies and I think concept driven comedies seem to be working when it's a clear concept and you deliver funny stuff.

Strategy and timing are the Himalayas of marketing. Everything else is the Catskills.

The greatest preparation for a TV show is to already have one season behind you.

The Devil, of course, must have been or must be a very charming person.

I grew up in a very small town in Florida, like, 7,000 people.

I love math and was a math teacher for many years, so it was fun for me to write several math books, including 'Fraction Fun,' 'Calculator Riddles,' and 'Shape Up!' 'Fun with Triangles and Other Polygons.'

Good comedy films, if you listen to the score, the music is not trying to be funny. It's always, in a way, underscoring the tragedy and struggle of the main character.

SuperMemo is based on the insight that there is an ideal moment to practice what you've learned. Practice too soon and you waste your time. Practice too late and you've forgotten the material and have to relearn it. The right time to practice is just at the moment you're about to forget.

We used to play in a theater club in London called The King's Head. When the theater let nut, around 10:00 P.M., we'd be ready to go and really get it on for about an hour or so.

My true function within a society which embraces all of us is to continue an age-old tradition. This tradition is to create images from the depths of the imagination and to give them form, whether visual, intellectual or musical.

I like to create the music I hear in my interior. As a conductor, you have the ability to squeeze the sounds and interpretation you asked for from 50 to 80 people.

Agents are deal makers, and they're really, really good at making deals. But they're also exceptionally helpful after the deal is made - agents act as a good intermediary between authors and publishers whenever disagreements come up.

The first time I got recognized in public was at a movie theater. It was at the 'Lord of the Rings' movie premiere. I was at the movie theater, and someone came up, and it was so weird to me, because I had never been recognized by a viewer, so I thought that was scary.

There are many facts showing that Putin's people enriched themselves by using power mechanisms so that's why for them losing power means losing their fortunes.

The good die young