"I've read short stories that are as dense as a 19th century novel and novels that really are short stories filled with a lot of helium."

"There is nothing that compares to an unexpected round of applause."

"It's been a long time since I've written old-fashioned sword and sorcery; I'm hoping it's like riding a bicycle."

"I write sets of books, but I've also written a lot of orphans."

"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."

"There is a question for which we will never know the answer: had the U.S. not launched the Contra war to overthrow the Sandinista government, would they have succeeded in bringing socioeconomic justice to the people of Nicaragua?"

"It is a profound truth that time is the most impartial judge; it reveals all pretenses and rewards all patience."

"It's usually a big kind of vent of frustration or anger or sadness that puts me in the right frame of mind to write. It's such a cliche to say that artists write when they're down, but it's true for me. It's a relief to get out what's eating away at my heart or my soul or my head."