The culture around us knows what it means when they see a church in perpetual bluster and outrage. They know that we are scared.

We find it difficult to distinguish between spiritual combatants… and their hostages.

The problem with carnal anger and outrage is that it's one of the easiest sons to commit while convincing oneself that he is being faithful.

If outrage were a sign of godliness, then the devil would be the godliest soul in Creation.

We're never called on to do what hurts. We just do what hurts out of ignorance and habit. Once we see what we're doing, we can stop.

Musical innovation is full of danger to the State, for when modes of music change, the fundamental laws of the State always change with them.

Never make permanent eternal decisions based on sense knowledge.

A strong theme is always running through a well-told story.

That's the only way I can control my movie. If you shoot everything, then everything is liable to end up in the movie. If you have a vision, you don't have to cover every scene.

Perhaps history is a thing that would stop happening if God held His breath, or could be imagined as turning away to think of something else.

Good impulses are naught, unless they become good actions.

Thoughts - even fears - were airy things, formless until you made them solid with your voice and once given that weight, they could crush you.

Gloriousness and wretchedness need each other. One inspires us, the other softens us.

I'm willing to forgo the cheap satisfaction of the radical pose for the deep satisfaction of radical ends.