“Cowardece is often just another name for being taken by surprise.”

“What we call cowardice is often just another name for being taken by surprise, and courage is seldom any better than simply being well prepared.”

“I write for the kid in me. . . . Often when I’m working on a story, I’ll find myself laughing at something my characters have done, or even being surprised at where they’ve taken the story. It’s as if they have a life all their own. What I do is create them and then let them go on to entertain me. . . .”

“Do you know how often people tell me that? And they always look just as surprised. It's really irritating”

“Even if you’ve taken off every stitch of clothing, you still have your secrets, your history, your true name. It’s hard to be really naked. You have to work hard at it. Just getting into a bath isn’t being naked, not really. It’s just showing skin.”

“There are many examples of animals coming to surprising living arrangements...where an animal takes a human being or another animal to be one of it's kind.”