I have three phobias which could I mute them would make my life as slick as a sonnet but as dull as ditch water: I hate to go to bed I hate to get up and I hate to be alone.

Early on if I was alone two three nights in a row I'd start writing poems about suicide.

Self-reverence self-knowledge self-control these three alone lead one to sovereign power.

Anybody under the age of forty knows hip-hop gospel and R&B pretty well and it's all a part of what we consider to be 'black music.' There is a natural synergy between the three.

My acting career began at age three and my parents got me into it. I was in a McDonald's commercial.

I started writing when I had three kids under the age of 4. I used to write every ten minutes I got to sit in front of a computer. Now when I have more time I function the same way: if it's writing time I write.

There are only three things that can kill a farmer: lightning rolling over in a tractor and old age.

I was well motivated. What I wanted to do was work for myself. I had twenty two jobs before I started my business at the age of twenty three and I didn't want one more boss telling me what to do. So I was motivated simply because I didn't want a boss.

I basically started playing violin at the age of six. That lasted about three years because my previous teacher died and the second teacher didn't really know how to successfully get me going.

In the 1970s and 1980s there was so little decent fiction for young people but we're now in a golden age that shows no sign of fading. Philip Pullman J. K. Rowling Lemony Snicket are only three of the best known among a good number of equals.