Clenched fists are not open to receive blessings.

A genuine smile is one of the world’s rarest treasures.

A fish that is afraid of drowning in a river is ignorant of its gifts.

A diamond earns its sparkle from the pressure it endures.

It is in the storm, not the calm, that a rainbow is born.

A determined seed cannot be hidden from the world, not even by dirt.

Calm skies don't make skillful eagles.

If you cry in the rain, only the sky will see your tears.

Birds keep singing beautiful songs, even if they have no audience.

Today's storms help you appreciate tomorrow’s sunshine.

Train the ears to hear more, the eyes to see more, the hands to do more, the feet to accomplish more, the mind to think more, the heart to feel more, and the soul to love more.

Your mind is your most important asset because it creates everything you have in life.

What you leave behind is the people you loved. You leave yourself in them.

Guilt is anger directed at ourselves - at what we did or did not do. Resentment is anger directed at others - at what they did or did not do.

A book is a door, you know. Always and forever. A book is a door into another place and another heart and another world.

Jesus loves a free black man.

I love the writers in Austin. We stick together. We all like each other and go to each other's book signings in case no one else shows up.

Diplomacy is to do and say, the nastiest thing in the nicest way.

If you have been touched by the success fairy, people think you know why. People think success breeds enlightenment and you are duty-bound to spread around like manure. Fertilize those young minds!

A fair share of anything is starvation diet to an egomaniac.

I shoot very little film. If you just do coverage you're shooting any number of potential films instead of just one, and I was shooting just one specific film. Film is cheap but time is expensive.