Depression comes from not accepting the way things are - and seeing no way too change them.

A beautiful woman is like a painting and remains beautiful no matter how old she is.

I am made of words. Cut me & I bleed sentences. Read me, & I speak to your soul.

All good art is political. Between the lines of every book, the author implants messages for the unsuspecting reader. If not, what point does it serve?

One passion leads to another. It's passion that makes the wheels of life turn, passion for work, passion for pleasure, passion for passion.

If you add the shadow of death to a moment of passion you are in that instant free of all normal ties, your mind grows still and your body enters a state of non-being.

If you are open to change and welcome surprise, you know the secret of creativity and the secret of life.

You don't become a success by breaking the rules. You don't become a success by obeying the rules. You become a success by inventing the rules.

There was a monster in me that had to be fed by success. There is a monster in us all that has to be fed by something.

It is in the nest of disappointment where depression lays its eggs.

Little matters much and much doesn't matter at all.

Religion is separate from the institution of the state.

I see myself as mom first. I'm so lucky to have that role in life. The world can like me, hate me or fall apart around me and at least I wake up with my kids and I'm happy.

We see not our own backs.

The German language is the organ among the languages.

Turn away. From the darkness, the madness, the pain. Open your eyes and look at the light.

I tend to tell stories that have a lot of momentum; it's not like 'and then months later...' I like things where the momentum of one action rolls into the next one so everything is the sum of that.

The problem is, when you depend on a substitute for love, you can never get enough.

You can continue your practice, you can exercise kindness, you can practice meditation whether you're in a prison or a millionaire's house, whether you're in India or Tibet.

The idea is to try to give all the information to help others to judge the value of your contribution; not just the information that leads to judgment in one particular direction or another.

There ought, I thought, to be a ritual for being born twice - patched, retreaded and approved for the road.