Fortune smiles on some, and lets the others go free.
I know you shouldn't spit in your own soup but I think most crime writing is like TV and doesn't make enormous demands on one's intellect.
Italians know about human nature - they understand human nature perhaps better than anyone else does. They know that people are weak and greedy and lazy and dishonest and they just try to make the best of it; to work around it.
I never know what's going to happen in a novel. I don't have a plan or an outline.
Venetians feel affection and loyalty to their city, rather than to the Italian state.
And off in the far distance, the gold on the wings of the angel atop the bell tower of San Marco flashed in the sun, bathing the entire city in its glistening benediction.
I love music. But I've never owned a TV in my adult life, and I've never lived in a place with a television.
Make heroes out of the employees who personify what you want to see in the organization.
One of the things that's beautiful about New Orleans is how culturally rich we are and how well we have worked together. People call us a gumbo. It's really important that we get focused on the very simple notion that diversity is a strength, it's not a weakness.
The fact is, we need help and we need each other.
Damn it, when I'm bombastic, I have my reasons. I want to be bombastic-take it or leave it.