The novel is about five students of classics who are studying with a classics professor and they take the ideas of the things that they're learning from him a bit too seriously with terrible consequences.

I have terrible handwriting. I now say it's a learning disability... but a nun who was a very troubled woman hit me over the fingers with a ruler because my writing was so bad.

What happened with Hurricane Katrina was the American electorate was forced to look at what lay behind the veneer of chest-beating. We all saw the consequences of having terrible government leadership.

Entire ignorance is not so terrible or extreme an evil and is far from being the greatest of all too much cleverness and too much learning accompanied with ill bringing-up are far more fatal.

It's the continuation of everyone's childhood to see these young children who grow up full of life full of intelligence full of a sense of wonder. And within an instant they're gone from this world. It's terrible.

Well the most terrible fear that anybody should have is not war is not a disease not cancer or heart problems or food poisoning - it's a man or a woman without a sense of humor.

You can find heroism everyday like guys working terrible jobs because they've got to support their families. Or as far as humor the things I see on the job on the street are far funnier than anything you'll ever see on TV.

I'm terrible as I never take my make-up off at night which I know is really dreadful. Whenever I'm out partying I just can't be bothered and now I am on 'Loose Women' that tends to be all the time. I hope next year holds even more parties for me.

Well I certainly have learned and I hope I'm moving on and certainly two years of prison was a terrible punishment.

When it's said and done the one thing I want to leave on this earth is hope. I have felt hopelessness and it's a terrible feeling. Hopelessness will destroy you. I want to bring hope to other people.