All play and no work makes Jack a mere toy.

..we wear the mask that grins and lies, it hides our cheeks and shades our eyes- this debt we pay to human guile; with torn and bleeding hearts we smile.

Hope is tenacious. It goes on living and working when science has dealt it what should be its deathblow.

With our short sight we affect to take a comprehensive view of eternity. Our horizon is the universe.

I hope there is something worthy in my writings and not merely the novelty of a black face associated with the power to rhyme that has attracted attention.

A minute to smile and an hour to weep in, A pint of joy to a peck of trouble, And never a laugh but the moans come double; And that is life!

Only the rich are lonesome.

Poor conceited humanity! Interpreters of God indeed.

I know what the caged bird feels, alas!

We reduce the deity to vulgar fractions. We place our own little ambitions and label them ?divine messages?. With our short sight we affect to take a comprehensive view of eternity.

A song fluttered down in the form of a dove, And it bore me a message, the one word-Love!

If I just keep putting one foot in front of the other, it stands to reason that I'm going to get there.

I long for, not a writer's retreat - I can write in any situation - but a reader's retreat.

Pain is a part of life. It's certainly part of my creative process.

Profundity and originality are attributes of single, if not singular, minds.

You who have read the history of nations, from Moses down to our last election, where have you ever seen one class looking after the interests of another?

But trust can take you a long way. And my faith takes me a long way. And I think that our pains, our vulnerabilities, and our insecurities can fuel us to be better. To try harder. To dig deeper.

We all become what we pretend to be.

I am now determined to do really weird parts but I think I overdo it in auditions so nobody really trusts me!

In all things let reason be your guide.

The ocean doesn't care about you. It makes your boat feel tiny. The oceans are great promoters of religion, or at least of humility-but not in everyone.