"One of the really bad things you can do to your writing is to dress up the vocabulary, looking for long words because you're maybe a little bit ashamed of your short ones."

"I love the idea of a good story. I love the idea of a story that's going to stick with you."

"I recognize terror as the finest emotion and so I will try to terrorize the reader. But if I find that I cannot terrify, I will try to horrify; and if I find that I cannot horrify, I'll go for the gro…"

"There's no harm in hoping for the best as long as you're prepared for the worst."

"Are you gonna get ready for bed or just stand there like Helen Keller havin a wet dream?"