It was so much fun to have the freedom to wander America with no assignments. For 25 or 30 years I never had an assignment. These were all stories I wanted to do myself.

As a consequence of the victories we have registered during our first ten years of freedom we have laid a firm foundation for the new advances we must and will make during the next decade.

End-of-the-world stories tend to ring true. I've always been drawn to them but as I wrote my own I found surprising pleasure in creating a world that is so radically changed yet where there's so much meaning and value in every small and ordinary thing we have and take for granted: hot showers enough food friends routines.

I've published one book before and now I'm writing a book of essays and stories about life in Tokyo. And I have one book coming out in May in Germany about fitness.

If the Indian people want stories written about themselves how they want them told they are going to have to make them they're going to have to finance them. If you let Hollywood do it Hollywood is going to get it wrong most of the time.

As a novelist I tell stories and people give me money. Then financial planners tell me stories and I give them money.

Stories can conquer fear you know. They can make the heart bigger.

There are many victories worse than a defeat.

The first syndicating I tried was when two partners and I created a production company in 1952. We wanted to syndicate famous Bible stories and sell them for $25 a show.

I heard so many stories from Gaomi's peasants that I had an irrepressible urge to write them down. Today Gaomi's peasants know that they have become famous around the world through my writings but I think they are a little puzzled by this.