Moscow was, as some said, the most beautiful mistress a man could ever want, but never cross her: like any good woman, she might just cut off your balls for the hell of it.

All of us change. Everyone in this world, from birth to death, becomes someone new. Again and again, we are remade.

Expect the unexpected, my mother once said. Because the unexpected most certainly will be expecting you.

I am vulnerable, starved for kindness. And when I receive it, I lose my mind.

Miracles pass and I see. Great wonders speak and I listen.

I've got a black-belt in crazy, and I know where you live.

Being alone was easier. No risk, just loneliness. No one ever died from that.

The one thing about being a creator, about being an artist, is that you get to explore your ideas. We're fortunate that we're in the position to do that, and I don't take it for granted.

Nice characters are boring! I like writing upbeat characters - that's my natural tendency.

Nice characters are boring!

Religion was no cure for dysfunction.

It is experience which teaches, not controversy based on supposed logic and assumptions of what is likely to be true.

I understand from experience that unity is easy to call for, but it takes the right kind of leadership to achieve.

Familiarity with nature never breeds contempt. The more one learns, the more one expects surprises, and the more one becomes aware of the inscrutable.

When someone comes to visit me, they have to bring tea - you can't stay in my house if you don't bring me tea.

Mother Earth is in pain and ailing because of global warming.

I take pride in taking the hard road and prove to people I earned it.

But I'm not a member of the Democratic Party. If you know anything about me, anybody who's followed me, I'm the anti-Democrat. I have railed against the Democrats for a long time.

Because a thing is eloquently expressed it should not be taken to be as necessarily true; nor because it is uttered with stammering lips should it be supposed false.