Every morning I wake up and thank God that I don't believe in him.

Do not think of defeat if the battle is not won yet

Where does the family start? It starts with a young man falling in love with a girl - no superior alternative has yet been found.

Economic independence is the foundation of the only sort of freedom worth a damn

I always like being surprised and sort of caught off guard by other people's work. So it doesn't cause me any anxiety to explore different avenues.

Be the same person privately, publically and personally.

I seem to remember even from when I was very young that when you loved someone you also hated them for making you love them, since loving someone is so incredibly humiliating.

Politics doesn't work. Look at the parts of America where government has had the most power, where government has spent the most money. Look at the housing projects we've got the poor people in.

I was constantly being pushed toward a European ideal of what it means to be a classical or opera singer, let's say in the Renata Tebaldi mode. I reject that.

Sin is not a distance, it is a turning of our gaze in the wrong direction.

Do you recall the story of the young Yogi in the Mahâbhârata who prided himself on his psychic powers by burning the bodies of a crow and crane by his intense will, produced by anger?