'A Fair Maiden' existed in notes and sketches for perhaps a year. When I traveled, I would take along with me my folder of notes - 'ideas for stories.' Eventually, I began to write it and wrote it fairly swiftly - in perhaps two months of fairly inte...
There used to be three networks, and now there are 40 million networks. There's a lot more competition out there, too. We would bring in 27 million people. Now, they're lucky if they have 17. I looked at the ratings, for the first time in 25 years, j...
My ultimate crush may be Judith McNaught - I met her once more than 20 years ago, and she was incredibly kind and encouraging to me. I adore that woman. But I also fangirl over aspiring or beginning authors, because every time I talk with them, I'm s...
I think I had a particular moment when I was 15 years old. I read 'Crime and Punishment,' and that book just, I think, more than any other book made me want to be a writer, 'cause it was the first time that I hadn't just entered a book, but a book ha...
For almost every novel I've written, I've read the daily newspaper of the time almost as if it were my current subscription. For 'Two Moons,' which was set in 1877, I think I read just about every day of the 'Washington Evening Star' for that year. F...
I remember the first time I went to Italy when I was eighteen, I was in Florence and there were all these eighteen, nineteen, twenty-year-olds gliding past on Vespas with crinkly, long, hair, and I thought I was on the set of a movie. I couldn't beli...
From time to time, as if heaven-sent to annoy, someone will ask me if I'm self-disciplined when it comes to my work. I usually look witheringly at them and snarl, 'What do you think?' I mean, how do you imagine anyone writes a quarter of a million wo...
There's a theory about fame: the moment it strikes, it arrests development. Michael Jackson remained suspended in childhood, enjoying sleepovers and funfairs; Winona Ryder, an errant teen who dabbled in shoplifting and experimented with pills; George...
Biggest lesson I learned my first year in the NFL is no one gives a crap about what you did last week. This league is about what have you done for me now. That's the NFL. It's also our culture. So you keep working hard because that's the biggest trut...
Here's the truth. The proposed top rate of income tax is not 50 per cent. It is 50 per cent plus 1.5 per cent national insurance paid by employees plus 13.3 per cent paid by employers. That's not 50 per cent. Two years from now, Britain will have the...
Sylvie: That's no reason to get a divorce! With a rich husband and this year's clothes, you won't find it difficult to make some new friends. Reggie Lampert: Look, I admit I came to Paris to escape American Provincial, but that doesn't mean I'm ready...
[preparing to impersonate Vincent and meet with his bosses] Max: How long have you been doing this? In case anyone asks? Vincent: Private sector? Six years. Max: Uh... you get health benefits? Pension...? Vincent: No, and no paid vacation. Quit stall...
Vesper Lynd: I can't resist waking you. Every time I do you look at me as if you hadn't seen me in years. Makes me feel reborn. James Bond: If you had just been born wouldn't you be naked?
Sister Aloysius Beauvier: What happened in the rectory? Father Brendan Flynn: Happened? Nothing happened. I had a talk with a boy. Sister Aloysius Beauvier: About what? Father Brendan Flynn: Private matter. Sister Aloysius Beauvier: He's twelve years...
Sister Aloysius Beauvier: [to Mrs. Miller] Years ago I used to listen to all the news reports, because my husband was in Italy, in the war. Mrs. Miller: [Taken aback] You were a married woman? Sister Aloysius Beauvier: [Offended] Yes, but then he was...
Darla: Air raid or it's your ass. Tony: Don't do it Sabrina Darla: [drunk] Oh that's it, Miss Hot Stuff. I'm gonna make the next year of your life a living hell [laughs and walks off] Darla: LICK ME! All of you!
Vasilli: In the forest, the wolf lives for three years and the donkey for nine. Tania: That must be a proverb from the Urals, it makes no sense to me. Vasilli: The donkey lives longer because he's more useful. Tania: There aren't any donkeys in the f...
Trautman: I came to get my boy. State Police Capt. Dave Kern: *Your BOY*? Trautman: I recruited him. I trained him. I commanded him for three years in Vietnam. I'd say that makes him mine.
Col. Jessep: How the hell is your dad, Danny? Kaffee: He passed away seven years ago, sir. Col. Jessep: Don't I feel like the fucking asshole? Kaffee: Not at all sir.
Cameron: The 1961 Ferrari 250GT California. Less than a hundred were made. My father spent three years restoring this car. It is his love, it is his passion. Ferris: It is his fault he didn't lock the garage.
Earl the Plumber: I been fixing the plumbing in here for ten years. I ain't never had to wear no damn tie before. Bill Dodge: Well you're a VIP today, Earl, so just shut up.
