I have a theory because I was being beaten up a lot by people outside of school it was almost like if I could make myself sick enough they'd take sympathy on me.

I have to have a character worth caring about. I tend not to start writing books about people I don't have a lot of sympathy for because I'm just going to be with them too long.

Here's my rule: You always want to pay cash for your own books because if they look at the name on the credit card and then they look at the name on the book jacket then there's this look of such profound sympathy for you that you had to resort to this. It really is withering.

I've always liked Saturn. But I also have some sympathy for Pluto because I heard it's been downgraded from a planet and I think it should remain a planet. Once you've given something planetary status it's kind of mean to take it away.

People of mediocre ability sometimes achieve outstanding success because they don't know when to quit. Most men succeed because they are determined to.

It's hard for children's authors to be accepted when they try to write adult books. J.K. Rowling is the exception because people are so eager to read anything by her but it took Judy Blume three or four tries before she had a success.

If the film is a hit then everyone shares the success. If it is going to be a disaster then it might as well be because of me not because of somebody else.

I had come to the point when I realized it was unlikely that my film career was going to move beyond a certain level of role. And I was - because I had graphic instances of it - handicapped by the success of Star Trek. A director would say 'I don't want Jean-Luc Picard in my movie' - and this was compounded by X-Men as well.

Everyone applauds each other's success in Hollywood because they know how tough it is but it really comes down fundamentally to the process.

To win in Australia for me has to be the ultimate success because the Aussies live for sport.

I'd rather a young black actor read about success as opposed to how tough it was. I get these roles because I can act and that's it. Hopefully that's it.

The real end winner of NAFTA is going to be Mexico because we have the human capital. We have that resource that is vital to the success of the U.S. economy.

I have decided to fight for my country because we have build a success story in Guanajuato with real results and more yet to come in the next two years.

You wanna know what scares people? Success. When you don't make moves and when you don't climb up the ladder everybody loves you because you're not competition.

Writers as they gain success feel like outsiders because writers don't come together in real groups.

The whole secret to our success is being able to con ourselves into believing that we're going to change the world because statistically we are unlikely to do it.

Like everybody I have invested in things that have gone bad because there's never any guarantee of success or profit when it comes to money.

I feel like a hostage to fortune. Not that I am complaining. I wanted to play the role. But in truth I didn't think the show would be such a success. OK I thought it would fail. Not because it was bad. I was confident it was good but plenty of good things just sort of wither on the vine.

Sometimes because of my success I am afraid that I was not a good father. With the first two I was too strong and with the other three I was too weak.

In a way a certain amount of self-criticism is a good thing because it keeps you humble. Realizing that no matter what success you've achieved you can still make enemies makes you humble too.

Because after my first year I had a lot of success took everybody by storm came back the next year thought it was easy and didn't have near the season I had the previous year. It was kind of a wake-up call. And so life goes on.

The only thing I can say about having this type of success is that you can get yourself in trouble because basically the world is set open for you. People will say yes to anything you ask so it's basically down to you and what you want or need.

My college degree was in theater. But the real reason if I have any success in that milieu so to speak is because I spent a lot of years directing I spent a lot of years behind the camera.

I believe success is preparation because opportunity is going to knock on your door sooner or later but are you prepared to answer that?