I want to be a popular novelist who's also serious, or a serious novelist who's also very accessible.

Tragedy is one of the larger prices we pay for being alive. No one ever sidesteps tragedy. It is always there, shadowing us.

If there is an abiding theme in 'The Pursuit of Happiness,' it is the idea that you come into the world already shaped by other people's past histories.

With a novel, no matter where I am in it, I'm fretting about it. Every time I write a book, it starts with great forward momentum. Then there seems to be a period where it slows down a bit, and other things intervene. Then I gain momentum.

I'm really happy with where I am, the movies in my life. Not satisfied, necessarily. But I won't put it on somebody else, blame anybody else for my position in the business. It's the choices I have made.

I learned quite early on in life that we are all two people. And one of those people none of us will ever know.

To suppose more than one supreme Source of infinite wisdom, power, and all perfections, is to assert that there is no supreme Being in existence.

My job will be to transmit - using my experience, my knowledge - with the intention of making the player more professional. I want to be a 'life-coach' who helps them to think, to make decisions, to manage their emotions with intelligence in difficult situations.