Every living thing is both a whole system in and of itself as well as an essential part of other systems.

The most important part of any relationship is allowing others to choose their own response to a situation, and of course this is the most difficult part.

Healing and positive life change comes from having the courage and spiritual conviction to look squarely at life's impermanence.

No one spiritual path is better than another, although one may accept the universe's role in life more than another.

A true spiritual teacher knows more than he or she necessarily verbalizes, using temperance and love to be guided to say what is appropriate.

The stripping away of illusion and the struggle to find personal reality can be likened to the peeling of an apple. As one peels away the layers of unreality. . . eventually only the core remains.

When we are unable to love and appreciate ourselves and our efforts, we run away from our mistakes and failures, rather than learning from them.

Dangerous dreams are daydreaming.

There's nothing like impending death to rouse you from existential boredom.

I'm not that kind of Bob Dylan, tortured creative.

People think they own time. They have watches and clocks and digital pulses. But they are wrong. Time owns them.

I'm glad I'm funny. I'm glad I make people happy, because that's very important. But I'm proud to be known as a kind person.

Speculation is a hard and trying business, and a speculator must be on the job all the time or he'll soon have no job to be on.

I think a big test we all face in life on a regular basis is that discouragement test. Life's not always fair, but I believe if you keep doing the right thing, God will get you to where you are.

The Uruguayans have a sort of purity. I don't know where they got it, and I doubt even if they know from where they got it. Perhaps they didn't kill off their major population.

Poet: gardener of epitaphs.

I have dictated stories from an airport after writing the story out in longhand on the plane that I got from phone interviews and then was applauded by editors for 'working magic.