American Quotes

If I want to write a movie, I'll write a screenplay, but if I have an idea for a book, it's something that I think can only be done novelistically.

I'd rather let the fiction speak for itself and I don't want to write fiction that tells people how to feel, and I don't want to be judgmental in the fiction.

I went to college in Vermont, and then stayed in the East Coast.

I totally relate to Tom Cruise. He's not crazy, it's just the litany of the mid-life crisis.

I think my sensibility is very literary; all my books were built as books, and I wasn't thinking about them being movies.

I think basically most men are misogynistic.

I just sort of write the book I feel like writing given the emotional place I am in my life at the time.

I have no problems or issues with screenwriting in general.

I had no idea that 'Less Than Zero' was going to be read by anyone outside of Los Angeles, and it's - believe me, as the writer of the book I'm somewhat amused and intrigued by the idea that 25 years later it's still out and people are still reading it.

I feel like I'm not smart enough to answer the questions I'm asked.

I don't know why I write what I write.

I do not feel I have a legacy to protect.

Hope E.L .James doesn't think I'm being a prankster. I really want to adapt her novels for the screen. Christian Grey is a writer's dream.

Exploitation is a harsh word, I know that, but on a certain level, to me that is the central Hollywood story.

Everyone I know who is successful has issues with their father, regardless of whether it was sports or business or entertainment.

Every book for me is an exorcism in some way or another, working through my feelings at the time.

Completely committed to adapting 'Fifty Shades of Grey'. This is not a joke. Christian Grey and Ana: potentially great cinematic characters.

Are you as much of a criminal if you don't act when there's a crime taking place in front of you as you are one of the participants? That was something that I was thinking about a lot because there are many moments in 'Less Than Zero' where horrific things happen and Clay could do something about th

All of my books come from pain.

Most people would have given up when faced with all the criticism I've received over the years.

In the old days we used to get more referrals, because people had insurance that paid for therapy. Now they belong to HMOs, and we can only be affiliated with a few HMOs.

I wrote several articles criticizing psychoanalysis, but the analysts weren't listening to my objections. So I finally quit after practicing it for six years.

Freud had a gene for inefficiency, and I think I have a gene for efficiency.

For that again, is what all manner of religion essentially is: childish dependency.

As a result of my philosophy, I wasn't even upset about Hitler. I was willing to go to war to knock him off, but I didn't hate him. I hated what he was doing.

I'm very happy. I like my work and the various aspects of it - going around the world, teaching the gospel according to St. Albert.

If something is irrational, that means it won't work. It's usually unrealistic.

I had a great many sex and love cases where people were absolutely devastated when somebody with whom they were compulsively in love didn't love them back. They were killing themselves with anxiety and depression.

I get people to truly accept themselves unconditionally, whether or not their therapist or anyone loves them.

People got insights into what was bothering them, but they hardly did a damn thing to change.