The best novels are those that are important without being like medicine; they have something to say, are expansive and intelligent but never forget to be entertaining and to have character and emotion at their centre.
Writing is a journey of discovery because until you start, you never know what will happen, and you can be surprised by what you do - expect the unexpected!
If you accept the expectations of others, especially negative ones, then you never will change the outcome.
Never idealize others. They will never live up to your expectations.
I never expected anyone to take care of me, but in my wildest dreams and juvenile yearnings, I wanted the house with the picket fence from June Allyson movies. I knew that was yearning like one yearns to fly.
I never expected to see the day when girls would get sunburned in the places they now do.
I just write what I wanted to write. I write what amuses me. It's totally for myself. I never in my wildest dreams expected this popularity.
Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody expects of you. Never excuse yourself.
Very little useful science got done in the space station. NASA never did the experiments needed to develop the technologies required for a genuine interplanetary expedition: centrifugal gravity to avoid bodily harm and a truly closed biosphere.
War is never economically beneficial except for those in position to profit from war expenditures.
People are never more insecure than when they become obsessed with their fears at the expense of their dreams.
I have a wardrobe full of expensive clothes, but wear the same two T-shirts. I've never found a look.
The years teach much which the days never know.
It is obvious that we can no more explain a passion to a person who has never experienced it than we can explain light to the blind.
I have never experienced anything like walking out onto the stage of an oversold venue and, before the first note is struck, realizing that there is not going to be enough oxygen for all of us.
So when these people sell out, even though they get fabulously rich, they're gypping themselves out of one of the potentially most rewarding experiences of their unfolding lives. Without it, they may never know their values or how to keep their newfound wealth in perspective.
You never know with these things when you're trying something new what can happen. This is all experimental.
I never experiment with anything in my books. Experimentation means you don't know what you're doing.
I was never directly pressured by peers, but by surrounding myself with others who were experimenting with smoking provided a certain false comfort.
Love can never be fully explained.
