Leadership consists of picking good men and helping them do their best.

Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life - think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success.

Today a reader, tomorrow a leader.

I'm always thinking about creating. My future starts when I wake up every morning... Every day I find something creative to do with my life.

I'm a father; that's what matters most. Nothing matters more.

Always expect the unexpected. Right around Thanksgiving, when the new Alex Cross will be out. It's called Four Blind Mice and it's a pretty amazing story about several murders inside the military.

The principle part of faith is patience.

It is the working man who is the happy man. It is the idle man who is the miserable man.

No man succeeds without a good woman behind him. Wife or mother, if it is both, he is twice blessed indeed.

The jealous are possessed by a mad devil and a dull spirit at the same time.

I shut my eyes in order to see.

It was less in pity than in anger that the world was moved by the photograph of little Alan Kurdi, that dead three-year-old Syrian refugee boy whose name we're all remembering now on the first anniversary of his drowning, along with his five-year-old brother Galip and their mother Rehanna.

I have not lost faith in God. I have moments of anger and protest. Sometimes I've been closer to him for that reason.

It is easy to be brave from a safe distance.

To jealousy, nothing is more frightful than laughter.

I'm not the smartest fellow in the world, but I can sure pick smart colleagues.

And suns grow meek, and the meek suns grow brief, and the year smiles as it draws near its death.

Life is all about balance, and there are certain times of the year - birthday, anniversary, holidays - that are meant to be enjoyed without guilt. That being said, Thanksgiving is a meal - it's not a Thanksgiving day, and it's not a Thanksgiving week.

Those who are believed to be most abject and humble are usually most ambitious and envious.

I'm thankful for every moment.

Why does a woman work ten years to change a man's habits and then complain that he's not the man she married?

It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take the front line when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership.

Friendship brings in a lot of honesty and trust into any relationship, especially a marriage.

Love. Fall in love and stay in love. Write only what you love, and love what you write. The key word is love. You have to get up in the morning and write something you love, something to live for.