It takes as much courage to have tried and failed as it does to have tried and succeeded.

The most exhausting thing in life is being insincere.

By and large, mothers and housewives are the only workers who do not have regular time off. They are the great vacationless class.

The sea does not reward those who are too anxious, too greedy, or too impatient. One should lie empty, open, choiceless as a beach - waiting for a gift from the sea.

Men kick friendship around like a football, but it doesn't seem to crack. Women treat it like glass and it goes to pieces.

I feel we are all islands - in a common sea.

A simple enough pleasure, surely, to have breakfast alone with one's husband, but how seldom married people in the midst of life achieve it.

My passport photo is one of the most remarkable photographs I have ever seen- no retouching, no shadows, no flattery-just stark me.

When I cannot write a poem, I bake biscuits and feel just as pleased.

Don't wish me happiness - I don't expect to be happy it's gotten beyond that, somehow. Wish me courage and strength and a sense of humor - I will need them all.

Women need solitude in order to find again the true essence of themselves.

Dear Nettie, I don't write to God no more, I write to you.

You don't get happiness from success. You get success from happiness.

Faith is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted in spite of your changing moods.

You can study government and politics in school, but the best way to really understand the process is to volunteer your time.

Of course on air I use occasional hyperbole to tell a story.

I made 'Batman' the way I made every other film, and I've done it to my own satisfaction - because the film, truly, is exactly the way I wanted it to be.

Long ago, long ago. The simple things come back to us. They rest for a moment by our ribcages then suddenly reach in and twist our hearts a notch backward.

I was never hurt by what anybody said about my clothes, because I dress to please myself. If somebody doesn’t like what I’m wearing, it’s their problem, not mine

It is a great thing if you can persuade people that they are somehow or other partakers in a mystery. It makes them feel bigger.

Not everybody is absolutely stupid. Why on earth would I be racist, what would I be trying to achieve?