What would we say if the Chinese sent a gunboat with their marines up the Mississippi River claiming they were protecting their laundries in Memphis?

Don't let yesterday take up too much of today.

When I die, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car.

We think we listen, but very rarely do we listen with real understanding, true empathy. Yet listening, of this very special kind, is one of the most potent forces for change that I know.

Growth occurs when individuals confront problems, struggle to master them, and through that struggle develop new aspects of their skills, capacities, views about life.

The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change.

As no one else can know how we perceive, we are the best experts on ourselves.

There are three kinds of men. The one that learns by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves.

A person cannot teach another person directly; a person can only facilitate another's learning

We ought to be living as if Jesus died yesterday, rose this morning, and is coming back this afternoon.

The good life is a process, not a state of being. It is a direction not a destination.

I like shape very much. A novel has to have shape, and life doesn't have any.

A poem can have an impact, but you can't expect an audience to understand all the nuances.

Tea is quiet and our thirst for tea is never far from our craving for beauty.

From the very depth of my being, I challenge the right of any man or any group of men, in business or in government, to tell a fellow human being that he or she is expendable.

I did not know how to paint a mural. I did not know how to prepare the surface. There was nobody from the Renaissance around who could advise me, and I did the best I could.

It is seeing ourselves in others that often prompts the remark, 'There's something about that person I don't trust.

But it's mostly about pacing yourself when you do these movies.

Great writers are not those who tell us we shouldn’t play with fire, but those who make our fingers burn.

I have tons of tunes, maybe 30 tunes that I still think are great, and only because some jerk at a record company didn't think it was great, it's not out there.

I am someone who likes to stay positive.