There's got to be a backbone, there's got to be a skeleton to the whole way I perform, but you never want to hit the same note twice during a performance, I think. I think it's always got to be fresh so it doesn't bore me, and I always want to go out on edge.

To get where you want to go you can't only do what you like.

I have two brothers buried in the military cemetery in Texas. I don't want to see any more of that.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, I don't know if you'd call him a great actor, but he's amazing in terms of his presence, and he is interesting enough that you want to watch him.

I don't want to talk in terms of miracles. I think this is a very serious situation. But I do want to talk in terms of Bush becoming a man of the hour, and I think this is way to do it.

If these men decided that they have to go in there and fight, I want them to send their own children and grandchildren. I want them to not send a bunch of strangers' kids in there to fight and die.

People desire power. I don't know why they want it so. It seems to me it implies a hugely superior intellect which separates them from most of the populace.

Classical musicians do this all the time. They want perfection. So they piece things together. Eight bars of this and six bars of that. Glenn Gould said that with a recording he wanted to make perfect versions of pieces.

Simon would not want to audition in front of Simon.

I do have a small collection of traditional SF ideas which I've never been able to sell. I'm known as a fantasy writer and neither my agent nor my editors want to risk my brand by jumping genre.

I can certainly put myself in Israel's shoes. They are humans just like we are. They want peace and security inside their borders.

We always have hoped that American diplomacy deploys itself in dialogue and persuasion rather than by ultimatums. That is the path we want in international relations.

We want the Israelis to leave. They want to leave - so let us let them leave.

I want kids to understand that strength doesn't come from what goes on around you. It comes from inside you, and that comes from Jesus Christ.

I don't want to abandon one work for the other, and I don't think I need to sacrifice anything to put my all into either one of them.