"Literature is capable of being a subject that people want to catch up on or discuss, whether at a coffee shop or a watercooler. It can become an intrinsic part of their dialogue."

"'Lord of the Rings' was a set of books in which the world had been conceived before the characters were placed within that context."

"Anger is one way to respond to fear. I say one way because responses are categorically multiple."

"At the breakfast table we are footnoting everything that we read. We don't recognise it as such but we encounter an article in the newspaper and then suddenly we recall that a friend had a certain comment on that particular story, a certain bit of news that we saw on the television applies to that and we immediately assemble an idea of a story."

"The movies I made early on may not have been great, but they were all commercially successful."

"Sometimes I think our problems are made worse by the kind of business we're in. Playing these road shows is a weird experience."

"In a relationship each person should support the other they should lift each other up."

"When purpose is clear, every obstacle transforms into a stepping stone. This remains the cornerstone of personal mastery."