A man's fate is his own temper.

Never apologize for showing feeling. When you do so, you apologize for the truth.

The secret of success is constancy of purpose.

Cleanliness and order are not matters of instinct; they are matters of education, and like most great things, you must cultivate a taste for them.

Nurture your mind with great thoughts, for you will never go any higher than you think.

Action may not always bring happiness; but there is no happiness without action.

Courage is fire, and bullying is smoke.

One secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes.

Time is precious, but truth is more precious than time.

Never complain and never explain.

Finality is not the language of politics.

The saying goes that for a wound caused by dog bite to heal you have to eat that same dog, and I did scoop up a mouthful for myself

I won't allow myself to have tremendous fear.

The time-deaf are unable to speak what they know. For speech needs a sequence of words, spoken in time.

The growing possibility of our destroying ourselves and the world with our own neglect and excess is tragic and very real.

I think 1960s small-town America was very Lynchian. Everything was there, but underneath, everything was rumbling.

I still have not given up the idea of becoming a journalist, but at 17 I decided to follow my heart and stay in Los Angeles with my girlfriend as opposed to going to Johns Hopkins.

I think passive beauties have their place in the world. It's hard for me to relate to that.

Danny DeVito later told me that he knew he wanted me for 'Matilda' the second I walked in the door. I'm not sure if this is true, or if he was just being nice, but I was thrilled when I got it.

Miracles start to happen when you give as much energy to your dreams as you do to your fears.

I will talk about it on Monday. I will answer every one of their questions. I always feel nervous when I have to go to court. This is like going to court. But I will be prepared.