I knew I couldn't go on like this, but I'd never been capable of simply nipping an anxiety in the bud. I always had to wait until it was ripe and mature and fell from me.

External freedom has probably never existed, but neither have I ever known anyone who knew inner freedom.

Suddenly I had a flash of insight: I am a monster, I realized, a monster that wants to stalk through the woods, free and alone, and cannot even bear so much as the touch of a branch on its skin.

The barriers between animal and human come down very easily. We belong to a single great family, and if we are lonely and unhappy we gladly accept the friendship of our distant relations.

A broken hand works, but not a broken heart.

New York City is the place where people come to invent, reinvent, or find the room they need to be who they wish to be.

The U.S. should stop garrisoning the globe, subsidizing rich friends, and reconstructing poor enemies. Instead, it's about time Washington focused on defending America and its people.

If I could only remember that the days were not bricks to be laid row on row, to be built into a solid house, where one might dwell in safety and peace, but only food for the fires of the heart.

The destination you think is going to make you happy, doesn't.

I have discovered the secret formula for a carefree old age: iycri = fi (if you can't recall it, forget it).

The house you live in will never fall down, if you pity the stranger who stands at your door.

You have the power to take our country back.

In some ways, my gift for music and writing was born out of tragedy, really, and loss.

People readily believe what they want to believe.