This quality of self-denial in pursuit of a longer-term goal and, indeed, the willpower to maintain the denial, is excellent training for the boardroom.

Novels for me are how I find out what's going on in my own head. And so that's a really useful and indeed critical thing to do when you do as many of these other things as I do.

The primary thing that determines how effective your life is how you carry out your calling

Life is not about receiving. It is about giving, knowing that someone might learn, understand or grow that little bit from the experience

Don’t make loss in your life make you a loser.

Great, I thought. We just blowtorched a national monument.

The truth is you don't know what is going to happen tomorrow. Life is a crazy ride, and nothing is guaranteed.

It's like driving your car. If you drive too fast on the highway, you will topple, so you better maintain your speed. Life is similar to that, and that's the way you have to control your head.

Should I give up or should I just keep chasing pavement, even if it leads nowhere?

To be an artist is to believe in life.

What do we call our Harlem Renaissance? Maybe in the future, it won't be just Latino, maybe it'll be more multi-multi, because, you know, people are such fusions now, of so many different cultures.