We cannot take a step toward the heavens. God crosses the universe and comes to us.

Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.

We must not wish for the disappearance of our troubles but for the grace to transform them.

Pain and suffering are a kind of currency passed from hand to hand until they reach someone who receives them but does not pass them on.

There are only two things that pierce the human heart. One is beauty. The other is affliction.

If you want to know what a man is really like, take notice of how he acts when he loses money.

A hurtful act is the transference to others of the degradation which we bear in ourselves.

There is one, and only one, thing in modern society more hideous than crime namely, repressive justice.

The joy of learning is as indispensable in study as breathing is in running.

Equality is the public recognition, effectively expressed in institutions and manners, of the principle that an equal degree of attention is due to the needs of all human beings.

More than in any other performing arts the lack of respect for acting seems to spring from the fact that every layman considers himself a valid critic.

They had nothing in common except for existing in the same time and space

Having a dream isn't stupid. ... It's not having a dream that's stupid.

By music minds an equal temper know, Nor swell too high, nor sink too low. . . . . Warriors she fires with animated sounds. Pours balm into the bleeding lover's wounds.

Even when I stop performing or stop making records I won't stop being creative. Songwriting is a good outlet.

I considered Nat King Cole to be a friend and, in many ways, a mentor. He always had words of profound advice.

It'll be just lovely for you to play -- it'll be so hard. And there's so much more fun when it is hard!

The end is the beginning of all things, Suppressed and hidden, Awaiting to be released through the rhythm Of pain and pleasure.

I started doing standup when I was in college, and I would incorporate a lot of characters into my act.

Nobody loves life like an old man.

I feel quite confident there will never be a plane on the face of the Earth with my name on it.