Thinking Quotes

I think a toxic message in a lot of Christianity has been that the self has to be annihilated in order for God to be found. I think that has been a toxic message.

I think my idea of God was much more directive than my idea of God now, that is, a God who had one plan in mind for me, perhaps, and my job was to find out what it was and obey.

If you are the wife of a governor or the wife of a vice president, I think you can be prepared for it.

I gave up years ago on the concept that you could actually have balance in your life, I think it's a phantom chase.

Everybody can justify their actions. We all think that we're doing things for reasons that are meaningful to us. Maybe not to other people, but to us.

The people I love the most in the film industry are the writers. And I think they're the people who are most vulnerable and are really open to new ideas. They're the originators, the creators.

When I work with filmmakers today, I'm really an advocate for the women's roles that I see, to make them as layered and as deep as possible. I think many of them are underwritten.

When I work on a piece I always think if there is an abundance of male characters which one could we change to a woman or a minority character.

When you're working with friends, I think there's a certain sensibility that you share, and it's easy to coordinate your ideas and work together to bring them in a cohesive way.

Both chronic, long-term poverty and downward mobility from the middle class are in the same category of things that America likes not to think about.

Yes. I think the anti-Wal-Mart is Costco, which pays much better and has much better health benefits and which is profitable and offers low prices.

How do you think it would feel to be obliged to ask for a seat-belt extender on an airplane? For the unfashionably bulgy, life is a series of small humiliations.

Sometimes I think that just not thinking of oneself is a form of prayer. . .

I don't think I know a single woman who knows what she looks like.

I made the mistake of thinking that if you add up the past, you sum up the future; I forgot how frequently life astonishes us.

Travel is something that I like to do because it gives you lots of images, and it also really makes you think about your own place in the world in a very different way.

I think it's really hard to be joyful. I work hard at it. I always feel like it's a choice. You can be joyful or you can be depressed, and there just doesn't seem to be any future in depression.

Almost any dog thinks almost any human is the Great Spirit, the Primal Creator, and the Universal Force Behind the Sun and Tides. What human can resist?

Jazz is the art of thinking out loud.

I think living to be one hundred would be great, but living to fifty twice would be so much better.

Parenting is something that happens mostly while you're thinking of something else.

I rarely think of poetry as something I make happen; it is more accurate to say that it happens to me. Like a summer storm, a house afire, or the coincidence of both on the same day.

It is true that I do not speak as well as I can think. But that is true of most people, as nearly as I can tell.

I never think that anything I'm writing is bluntly political in any way. I'm not going for commentary.

I do my best work if I think about what it is I have to offer.

As a biologist, I can't think of myself as anything but an animal among animals and plant.

I used to think religion was just more of the same thing. Dump responsibility on the big guy. Now I see an importance in that. It's a relief to accept that not everything is under your control.

I think the most interesting parts of human experience might be the sparks that come from that sort of chipping flint of cultures rubbing against each other.

Do you think its possible to live without wanting to put your name on your paintings? To belong to a group so securely you don't need to rise above it?

Come to think of it, just about every tool was shaped like either a weenie or a pistol, depending on your point of view.

If you're writing, you're a writer. If you're talking about it or thinking about it, I'm not so sure. Writing is ninety-eight percent work and two percent magic.

I think architecture is one of the predominant orderings of social space. It can construct and contain our experiences. It defines our days and nights. It literally puts us in our place.

Warhol's images made sense to me, although I knew nothing at the time of his background in commercial art. To be honest, I didn't think about him a hell of a lot.

I think it was 37 years that I did music.

I think it's innate in human nature to want to make a difference, to make your life meaningful.

I do, however, think it would be difficult to write books I don't like to read.

I think, though, with that whole sense of integrity and a lot of things that have been going on, the shared leadership rather than the titular head.

I think George Mitchell was good for Maryland in the sense that he helped me get elected. It doesn't get any better than that from here on.

People had so much respect for George Mitchell. They wanted to cooperate with him. I think that's a hallmark of a very good leader.

My own father had died of Alzheimer's. George [Mitchell] had been also, I think, deeply moved by a similar tragedy.

I think George Mitchell believed in promoting women.

Senator [George] Mitchell is a man of many talents and he's swift on his feet, but one would not think of him as 'dancing with the stars.' And we had this great rock 'n' roll fund raiser.

I think leadership is creating a state of mind in others.

There is one question that I don't think Gary Condit can answer, and that I think is why we all aimed at Gary Condit, besides the fact that he has a relationship.

If anyone asks me whether I like being a popular writer, I ask them whether they think I'd rather be an unpopular writer.

I ask myself, have nations ever declined from a loss of moral sense rather than from physical reasons or the pressure of barbarians? I think that they have.

A great many people think that polysyllables are a sign of intelligence and refinement so they think they will impress others with their command of obscure words.

No one could ad lib like Peter. You would think that it was all scripted, he was so poetic, but it wasn't.

I think when I was younger, I wanted to be a star, until I became a star, and then it's a lot of work. It's work to be a star. I don't enjoy the stardom part. I only enjoy the creative process.

I just don't like the idea of her singing my songs. Who the hell does she thinks she is? The world doesn't need another Streisand! (on Diana Ross)