I thought of the pillowcases as a symbol of love and loss, of retaining the memory of your loved one.

It's really hard when you read literature in a language that's not your own. There are all these cultural references you have to be born into that particular language to get.

For me, the more I understand the story of others, the greater I am able to learn and help other people.

Sometimes the mere connection we make with each other can change people's lives. It doesn't have to be something big. The mere fact that you're interested in them makes them happy.

I think every person has a unique story to tell and we each have the different life events that happen to us and sometimes we may feel sympathetic toward a certain aspect of that life event.

It's hard to choose the right word, the right line. This Body Mystery is a small book, but it took me over ten years.

I tried to write poems in rhyme. I tried writing songs. Sometimes I jotted down a thought. I would keep a log of spontaneous thoughts.

I read a lot when I was in school in the United States, and even though writing in English is very difficult for me, I wrote in journals.

Art is really about how you capture different things you see around you and bring them into forms and words and shapes and meaning.

You have to experiment with different mediums and things around you [making art].

This is my first collaboration [with Mary Hamill] so I'm going to learn how it's going to work.

You could die, " she whispered. "Everything dies, " he whispered back. "I'm afraid of so much more than dying.

No more things should be presumed to exist than are absolutely necessary

When there is a lack of honor in government, the morals of the whole people are poisoned.

If you have a hammer, use it everywhere you can, but I do not claim that everything is fractal.

A composer is not only an architect but also an inventor, and he should not build houses in which he cannot live.

I tried to tell myself that it could be worse, that the world was not a wish-granting factory, that I was living with cancer not dying of it, that I mustn't let it kill me before it kills me.

The sinner's prayer has sent more people to Hell than all the bars in America.

The gods had gone away, and the ritual of the religion continued senselessly, uselessly.

You are never too old to reinvent yourself.

I haven't had a worst business decision, because I believe all things work together for good.