Tim Winton

'I don't see optimism as an emotional state or an emotional dispensation. It's a discipline that you adopt because the alternative is despair.'' Tim Winton

Peter Carey

"I went to work in 1962, and by '64 I was writing all the time, every night and every weekend. It didn't occur to me that, having read nothing and knowing nothing, I was in no position to write a book." Peter Carey

Nick Cave

"When I look back, from 20 onwards, I was actually having a pretty good time, I have to say. I don't look back to 'What a miserable fucking time.' In general I'm a pretty up, buoyant, optimistic kind of person." Nick Cave

David Sedaris

"I’d like to think some of my nervous habits faded during high school – but my class pictures tell a different story.” David Sedaris 

Joel Gion

"You're walking down the street, and some construction worker goes, 'Hey, what's up with those shoes -- those look like girl's shoes!' But I know they're totally rad Beatle boots, which are the coolest shoes that anybody could ever have.” Joel Gion

Tony Leung

“I wanted this character to be very optimistic – always with a smile on his face – but I just wasn't able to put it into the scenes. I don't know why." Tony Leung