We deny the severity of our loved one's problem not because we are naive, but because we can't know.

Anyone who has lived through it, or those who are now living through it, knows that caring about an addict is as complex and fraught and debilitating as addiction itself.

I didn't cause it. I can't control it. I can't cure it.

How can both Nics, the loving and considerate and generous one, and the self-obsessed and self-destructive one, be the same person?

A world of contradictions, wherein everything is gray and almost nothing is black and white.

I'm not sure if I know any 'functional' families, if functional means a family without difficult times and members who don't have a full range of problems.

The hopeful part about that is when you do have that help, you will feel better. It still doesn't make this easy. Nothing makes this easy, but you can make better decisions.

An alcoholic will steal your wallet and lie to you. A drug addict will steal your wallet and then help you look for it.

Wherever you be, wherever you may, seek the truth, strive for the beautiful, achieve the good.

How innocent we are of our mistakes and how we responsible we are for them.

Along with the joy of parenthood, with every child comes a piercing vulnerability. It is at once sublime and terrifying

Do not only believe, affirm and act the sacred words of God.

Make every day count... Even when you think it's the worst day of your life

There's nothing that cleanses your soul like getting the hell kicked out of you.

Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.

If man doesn't learn to treat the oceans and the rain forest with respect, man will become extinct.

I think a book that is over 400 pages should be split in two. I don't know that there's anything that interesting that can go on for 700 pages. I think that is a little bit indulgent.

My eldest brother Atticus just won an Oscar some years ago, as he wrote the music for The Social Network.

When you go into a starring position and you're carrying a movie, it's important that people like it. So I only do things that I can connect with in some sort of way, or that I can identify with.

Prejudice is taught. If the world were full of only children, it would be a much better place.

I started tennis around age 2.