If a man don't go his own way, he is nothing.

Failure and its accompanying misery is for the artist his most vital source of creative energy.

I don't want to be labeled as either a pansy or a heterosexual. Labeling is so self-limiting. We are what we do - not what we say we are.

The closer we come to the negative, to death, the more we blossom.

Look, I'm not odd. I'm just trying to be an actor; not a movie star, an actor.

Nobody ever lies about being lonely.

Noah, from 'The Young Lions' (1958), was the best performance of my life. I couldn't have given more of myself. I'll never be able to do it again. Never.

Look, if you're playing Romeo and your Juliet is a pig, you find something you can love about pigs!

James Dean's death had a profound effect on me. The instant I heard about it, I vomited. I don't know why.

A man should be what he can do.

The thing that bugs me is the average woman's complete ignorance of the functional purpose of cosmetics, which is to supplement, not conceal.

Elders in the dark see better than children in the light.

The successes and failures of yesterday are gone, today is a new day.

So childhood too feels good at first, before one happens to notice the terrible sameness, age after age.

Real friends offer both hard truths and soft landings and realize that it's sometimes more important to be nice than to be honest.

Do not try to make the gospel tasteful to carnal minds. Do not hide the offense of the cross, lest you make it of no effect.

Impermanence is not something to be afraid of. It's the evolution, a never-ending horizon.

White folks' greed runs a world in need.

I love men. They are intelligent and sensitive, but there's also that hard-edged arrogant side, which is just so attractive.

Mathematics is as old as Man.

I started performing opera when I was 10 years old. I didn't perform as Zola Jesus until I was probably 18.