"It's not a bad thing for a writer not to feel at home. Writers - we're much more comfortable at parties standing in the corner watching everybody else having a good time than we are mingling."

"A good writer should be able to write comedic work that made you laugh, and scary stuff that made you scared, and fantasy or science fiction that imbued you with a sense of wonder, and mainstream journalism that gave you clear and concise information in a way that you wanted it."

"Empathy is a tool for building people into groups, for allowing us to function as more than self-obsessed individuals."

"I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You're doing things you've never done before, and more importantly, you're doing something."

"You aren't going to find anybody that's going to be successful without making a sacrifice and without perseverance."

"I want to go to Sierra Leone with something - whether it's some sort of contribution to healthcare, or to the entertainment industry. My cousin is a nurse; we are talking about opening a clinic."

"It is a unyielding truth that beauty in art is the harmony of spirit, intellect, and craft."

"It is a humble truth that serenity begins the moment you cease demanding that the external world conform."