An industrious sinner I much prefer to a lazy saint.

If peace . . . only had the music and pageantry of war, there'd be no wars.

The longing to produce great inspirations didn't produce anything but more longing.

I can always make up my mind better when there's a man around, because I know the thing to do is just the opposite to what he says.

The clear light of science teaches us that we must be our own saviors, if we are to be found worth saving.

Her grandmother had once told her that one of life's best lessons was not being afraid to look foolish -- to just ask the question.

Optimism is essential to achievement and it is also the foundation of courage and of true progress.

He [Gandhi] was not one of those saints who are marked out by their phenomenal piety from childhood onwards, nor one of the other kind who forsake the world after sensational debaucheries.

Who passed Wall Street deregulation that enabled the meltdown of Wall Street and the disappearance of nine million jobs, the theft of 5 million homes?

My favorite actor who played villains - who could play anything, really - was Jimmy Cagney.

Nobody asks you to do this. The world out there is not panting after another novelist. We choose it

Let your clarity define you, in the end, we will only just remember how it feels.

The artist can within limits make what he likes of his life... It is only the artist, and maybe the criminal, who can make his own.

I'm not bashing people who write songs that are just 'get on the dance floor and party party', I understand why people need those songs too, but I don't really write lyrics like that.