Though a man excels in everything, unless he has been a lover his life is lonely, and he may be likened to a jewelled cup which can contain no wine.

If man were never to fade away ... but lingered on forever in the world, how things would lose their power to move us. The most precious thing in life is its uncertainty.

It is a most wonderful comfort to sit alone beneath a lamp, book spread before you, and commune with someone from the past whom you have never met.

On a moonlit night, after a snowfall, or under cherry blossoms, it adds to our pleasure if, while chatting at our ease, we bring forth the wine cups.

... For such as truly love the world, a thousand years would fade like the dream of one night.

Life's most precious gift is uncertainty.

Blossoms are scattered by the wind and the wind cares nothing but the blossoms of the heart no wind can touch.

In everything, no matter what it may be, uniformity is undesirable. Leaving something incomplete makes it interesting, and gives one the feeling that there is room for growth

The truth is at the beginning of anything and its end are alike touching.

Ambition never comes to an end.

You should never put the new antlers of a deer to your nose and smell them. They have little insects that crawl into the nose and devour the brain.

Music is the fertilizer for heart to bloom the flower of love and peace.

Power lacks moral or principles. It only has interests.

Poets and children, " said Sylvan. "We are the same really. When you can't find a poet, find a child. Remember that.

Respecting others is best tool to earn respect.

Whatever you want, at any moment, someone else is getting it. Whatever you have, someone else is longing for.

Well, I think indigenous peoples have ways of living on the Earth that they've had forever. And they've been overrun by organized religion, which has had a lot of money and power.

When you start to realize life isn't fair, what do you do: curl up and die or fight every second of the way?

The weird thing is that I hate to fly, and the quote that I give people is that every time I get off a plane, I view it as a failed suicide attempt.

You create a little world when you are making a film and you have to feel that you would want to be a part of that world. I sometimes look at the scripts I get and think 'what are they thinking?'

I can now focus on a huge audience through TV, books, cookware and foods.