I would say that there is no future for literary studies as such in the United States.

What I'm concerned about is endless borrowing which is going to compromise our economy not only today but in the future. Because we know the decisions we make right now really dramatically impact us in the future and the debt is literally getting out of our control.

For the first time in the history of mankind one generation literally has the power to destroy the past the present and the future the power to bring time to an end.

I don't write literary fiction - I write books that are entertaining but are also I hope well-constructed and thoughtful and funny and have things to say about men and women and families and children and life in America today.

It's really funny because the same people who loved me as Stringer Bell were the same people that were watching 'Daddy's Little Girls' literally in tears.

When I was a kid I didn't feel like I fit in because - this is really silly and I probably shouldn't say it but I didn't think anything was funny. So I used to go home and literally cry to my mom and my step-dad at the time and I didn't think anything was funny. I couldn't laugh.

I'm like bursting. I should be working. I don't want to take a break. It's funny on set I don't have to go to the bathroom I don't have anything wrong I'm perfectly fine so through-and-through. I'm not hungry. I'm literally not even in my own body.

The real test of friendship is: can you literally do nothing with the other person? Can you enjoy those moments of life that are utterly simple?

Life is a very orderly thing but in fiction there is a huge liberation and freedom. I can do what I like. There's nothing that says I can't write a page of full stops. There is no 'should' involved although you wouldn't know that from literary reviews and critics.

Woe to that nation whose literature is cut short by the intrusion of force. This is not merely interference with freedom of the press but the sealing up of a nation's heart the excision of its memory.

In the literal sense there has been no relevant evolution since the trek from Africa. But there has been substantial progress towards higher standards of rights justice and freedom - along with all too many illustrations of how remote is the goal of a decent society.

Much literary criticism comes from people for whom extreme specialization is a cover for either grave cerebral inadequacy or terminal laziness the latter being a much cherished aspect of academic freedom.

I came literally to the table with a wealth of knowledge by simply understanding how food should taste.

There are days when I literally have to eat 17 plates of food - it's intense. It's about moderation. You just need a few bites to get the gist of a dish.

I tell my students it's not difficult to identify with somebody like yourself somebody next door who looks like you. What's more difficult is to identify with someone you don't see who's very far away who's a different color who eats a different kind of food. When you begin to do that then literature is really performing its wonders.

Nothing drew me to the film business. I was propelled by the fear and anxiety of Vietnam. I had been drafted into the Marines. My brother was already serving in Vietnam. I bought if you will a stay of execution - both literally and figuratively - and went on to graduate school of business from the law school that I was attending.

There is nothing I fear more than waking up without a program that will help me bring a little happiness to those with no resources those who are poor illiterate and ridden with terminal disease.