In the greater part of humankind there resides an instinct for survival. It is this which can clutch at straws and effect a rescue from them. It is this which can, now and then, outwit fate.

Writing is writing, and stories are stories. Perhaps the only true genres are fiction and nonfiction. And even there, who can be sure?

The bitterness of joy lies in the knowledge that is cannot last. Nor should joy last beyond a certain season, for, after that season, even joy would become merely habit.

She looked, and a scarlet butterfly flew away from her, away down the length of the tower, and then another, another, an unraveling scarf of butterflies like winged blood.

Archetypes are universal, and, in subtle or extravagant ways, interchangeable.

We need the expressive arts, the ancient scribes, the storytellers, the priests.

The soul is a magician. Only living flesh hampers it.

When I am fascinated by something, I like to play with it.

I submitted manuscripts to publishers. This was not so much a feeling that I should be published as a wish to escape the feared and hated drudgery of normal work.

No one is ever ordinary.

Maidens who stay maidens turn into saints. Old women become sorceresses. Tough jobs, both of these.

Be unselfish.... If you think of yourself only you cannot develop because you are choking the source of development which is spiritual expansion through thought for others.

If you're going to be truly successful, then set yourself apart from everyone else. Go beyond the limits of what classifies the average person and be exceptional.

The first condition for making music is not to make a noise.

The Epistles in the New Testament have all of them a particular reference to the condition and usages of the Christian world at the time they were written.

Don't cheapen Jesus's sacrifice by trying to pay him back

For most actors, it's such a struggle to get work. Once they have it, they feel that there's an enormous amount of pressure on them to make it work, and have everyone love them.

I can't think about that right now. If I do, I'll go crazy. I'll think about that tomorrow.

Nobody in the world is as good at making decisions as the Japanese.

When the students in the South, the blacks, started demonstrating, that was the beginning of the time of students becoming a social force around the world.

The US is responsible for 25 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions. It should take responsibility for leading the way.