Suddenly in high school, I'm in a predominantly Jewish atmosphere. Jewish people were my gate to white America.

What you are will show, ultimately. Start now, every day, becoming, in your actions, your regular actions, what you would like to become in the bigger scheme of things.

I'm interested when things are upside down - because there are so many possibilities in that one moment. There is a lot that is exposed.

Identity is an assemblage of constellations.

We spend so much time bantering about the words when the real open conversations might very well be our actions. I worry about our rhetoric.

You can't teach talent. You can't teach inspiration. You can teach people critical facilities. You can give them techniques. You can teach discipline. And you can teach them about the business.

Each person has a literature inside them.

Hope is when you look out the window and you go, 'It doesn't look good at all, but I'm going to go beyond what I see to give people visions of what could be.'

Friendship is a wildly underrated medication.

Be more than ready. Be present in your discipline. Remember your gift. Be grateful for your gift and treat it like a gift. Cherish it, take care of it, and pass it on.

You've heard that old expression from Shakespeare, 'Just speak the speech'? The words themselves will take you to the reality of the character. And so this led me to interview people.

I suppose I'll have to add the force of gravity to my list of enemies.

Beginnings are so important. Just finding that right moment to introduce this character, this world, it’s everything.

Relax," Langdon whispered. "Do your piranha thing.

He was one of those guys who'd pronounce I'm a hugger as he came at you, neglecting to ask if the feeling was mutual.

She should get a divorce and settle down.

It's great to be great, but it's great to be human.

A 'passing' test doesn't mean 'no problem.' It means no problem *observed*. This time. With these inputs. So far. On my machine.

The man realized that what counted was not where a person lived, but how a person lived.

Work, which makes a man free, and thought, which makes him worthy of freedom.

Only God, my dear, Could love you for yourself alone And not your yellow hair.