“You don’t get to pick your family, but you can pick your teachers and you can pick your friends and you can pick the music you listen to and you can pick the books you read and you can pick the movies you see. You are, in fact, a mashup of what you choose to let into your life. You are the sum of your influences. The German writer Goethe said, "We are shaped and fashioned by what we love.”

“You are, in fact, a mashup of what you choose to let into your life.”

“Your job is to collect good ideas. The more good ideas you collect, the more you can choose from to be influenced by.”

“You can pick your friends and you can pick your nose, but you can't wipe your friends off on a saddle.”

“The best advice is not to write what you know, it’s to write what you like. Write the kind of story you like best—write the story you want to read. The same principle applies to your life and your career:”

“You can spend your life judging people or, you can spend it making friends. Take your pick.”

“You don’t want to look like your heroes, you want to see like your heroes.”