After a cruel childhood, one must reinvent oneself. Then reimagine the world.

it is a serious thing // just to be alive / on this fresh morning / in this broken world.

Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness. It took me years to understand that this too, was a gift.

I don't ask for the sights in front of me to change, only the depth of my seeing.

Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?

Instructions for living a life. Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.

One day you finally knew what you had to do, and began.

Keep some room in your heart for the unimaginable.

You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.

In this universe we are given two gifts: the ability to love and the ability to question. Which are, at the same time, the fires that warm us and the fires that scorch us.

You must not ever stop being whimsical. And you must not, ever, give anyone else the responsibility for your life.

We are advised to meditate on things that are true, lovely, noble, gracious and bring good report. These should form the basis of our thought pattern.

It is the artist who tries to gradually accustom people to the possibilities of a better state of things.

You can say 'Thanks,' and you can say 'Thanks a Million' - but any number in between?

My motivations are thinking I can write better songs, that the concerts can be better.

There are three things you cannot hide: smell of the garlic, fragrance of the flower and the wisdom of the teacher.

Do you have any coffee?'...'It stunts my growth, and I'm afraid of death.

Everything here is alive thanks to the living of everything else.

The Oscar nomination is the best marketing you can get.

Movies without meaningful dialogue play well all over the world. The Apostle is probably the best movie of the year, but it won't do squat in Korea.

Now I know what it's like to be a rock star. No, I didn't sleep with 5 groupies at once. But I was interviewed about 45 times in 5 days in 3 cities.