The historian does not locate known facts in a hypothetical, general pattern of processes; his aim is to link fact to fact, one unique knowable event to another individual one that begot it.

The seeds of civilization are in every culture, but it is city life that brings them to fruition.

Most new discoveries are suddenly-seen things that were always there. A new idea is a light that illuminates presences which simply had no form before the light fell on them.

The first impression of a work of art is its otherness from reality.

The Past, being in the mode of memory, is closed, inalienable, and irreparable.

Fire is a natural symbol of life and passion, though it is the one element in which nothing can actually live.

The secret of 'fusion' is the fact that the artist's eye sees in nature... an inexhaustible wealth of tension, rhythms, continuities, and contrasts which can be rendered in line and color.

Music is the tonal analogue of emotive life.

The high intellectual value of images, however, lies in the fact that they usually, and perhaps always, fit more than one actual experience.

If a work of art is a projection of feeling, its kinship with organic nature will emerge, no matter through how many transformations, logically and inevitably.

The fairytale is irresponsible; it is frankly imaginary, and its purpose is to gratify wishes, as a dream doth flatter.

A library outranks any other one thing a community can do to benefit its people. It is a never failing spring in the desert.

Kiss me again. Let me imagine for a moment that you belong to me. The memory will keep me company in my solitude.

All the goodness of a good egg cannot make up for the badness of a bad one.

We must start talking differently about poverty--and start doing something differently.

I bought a gun because POW POW sounds a lot better than Hey, put that back!

If you find yourself lost in the woods, build a house. "Well, I was lost, but now I live here!"

I've experienced tons of failure. I've been making music for 30 years, and I'd say failure and success have happened in equal measure.

A great screenplay is the most powerful bait in Hollywood.

I've never sung a single song in my whole life on purpose to shock anyone. My 'hot numbers' are all, if you will notice, written about something that is real in the lives of millions of people.