The principles that will save Earth's life are the same principles that save the living souls of humans: ineluctable spiritual principles.

The bad thing about falling into pieces is that it hurts. The good thing about it is that once you're lying there in shards you've got nothing left to protect, and so have no reason not to be honest

But I finally concluded that it is an inalienable right of lovers everywhere to become temporarily worthless to the world, it may even be their duty.

We hear nothing so clearly as what comes out of silence.

And into the brown paper bag of my heart, Eddy slipped a smile.

To me, it's a great day every time I receive a letter from somebody who climbed inside one of my books, inhabited it for a while, learned a little something, and emerged grateful.

I started having doubts right on top of my certainty.

Music is just a word for something we love largely because it consists of things that words can't express. Likewise, the heart is just a word for something in us that music sometimes touches.

... the best way to strip the allure and dreaminess from a lifelong dream is, very often, simply to have it come true.

Ecosystems are holy. The word "environmental" is a deadly compromise itself. It's a policy word that lives only in the head, and barely there.

But churches always have been the leading cause of the need for churches.

Freemasonry is a spiritual practice that good men of every spiritual practice can agree upon.

I'm not important, having a child is not an amazing feat, and my child, while extraordinarily important to and beloved by her parents, is not particularly special in the scheme of things.

I crack jokes and play games and that's really more my nature than being cold.

When it is all about winning, once you've done it, you lose interest; stay focus on helping/developing young people as your long-term goal.

There has always been a strange dissonance between the public and the private in Nigeria.

What I do isn't black music, it's just my music.

You're a unique person. You should do what you're suited to do. We all should. It's the only way to be happy. That pressure is all outside. It's external.

Please, I don't want anybody to think I'm starving, I'm not. My health is perfect, actually.

In the late '90s, R&B was dominant in the radio, and the white kids were taking it mainstream.

Know that success and inner peace are your birthright, that you are a child of God and as such that you're entitled to a life filled with joy, love and happiness.