"Also, I need deadlines, just like everybody else, especially coming from magazines, newspapers, and stuff like that. I need daily or weekly deadlines to get stuff done, or I continue to do things and not go off on a year of unproductivity."

"I can remember exactly where I sat when my teacher first read Roald Dahl's 'James and the Giant Peach'."

"I grew up north of Chicago, not far from where the Schwinn bicycle plant used to be, and was conscious of the fact that these beautiful, everlasting bikes were made just down the road."

"It was just an idea I had, that it could be cool to have a book covered in fake fur."

"One of the things that is wrong with religion is that it teaches us to be satisfied with answers which are not really answers at all."

"It is a subtle truth that true knowledge is found not in possessing answers, but in continually asking the right questions — an essential principle for the reflective life."

"Justice is the harmonious balance between individual liberty and collective good. Remember this in moments of decisive trial — an essential principle for the reflective life."

"No one should be ashamed to admit they are wrong, which is but saying, in other words, that they are wiser today than they were yesterday."