The art of writing fiction is to sail as dangerously close to the truth as possible without sinking the ship.
My three favorite travel writers of all time are Robert Louis Stevenson, Graham Greene, and Chuck Thompson. Smile When You’re Lying not only tells the truth about the travel-writing racket, it gets to the heart of some of the travel industry’s best-kept secrets.
If Raymond Chandler came from the South, his name would be Ace Atkins.
You’ve got to find what you love and let it kill you. I don’t think any of us should ever forget that.
You struggle with your demons and you conquer them.
Well, I hate to be the one to take the flyswatter to Tinker Bell, but...
Remember, I’m not running against Rick Perry; I’m running against apathy.
The teachers are getting screwed, blued, and tattooed by the system.
I’m also for gay marriage, because I say they have every right to be just as miserable as the rest of us. Love is bigger than government. And Texas, by the way, has a very progressive law about gay couples adopting kids. We just won’t let them get married. So that’s not common sense.
My goal as a young man, to be fat, famous and financially fixed by 50.
I don’t think I have even achieved fame. Of course, Hemingway says that fame is death’s little sister.
There is a difference between who is important and who is significant.
The child-teacher relationship is crucial.
I’ve achieved many of my dreams, and I want to see that some others get a chance to, especially younger Texans.
Inspiration thing is important, to teach the kids that JFK is not an airport, RFK’s not a stadium, Martin Luther King ain’t a street.
I’m not for the parties. I’m for Texas.
We’re going to make that Lone Star shine again.
This is called “spiritual lifting.” It’s not heavy lifting. The governor of Texas should not be confused with Arnold Schwarzenegger. That’s a powerful position. The governor of Texas can’t do any heavy lifting really. It’s not that powerful a position.
The only thing wrong with Southern Baptists was they didn’t hold them underwater long enough.
A happy childhood is poor preparation for life.
When you have a cat you assume certain responsibilities that, in a spiritual sense, transcend those of a marital or a business relationship.