History - an account, mostly false, of events, mostly unimportant

Everyone is necessarily the hero of his own life story.

Like an ox-cart driver in monsoon season or the skipper of a grounded ship, one must sometimes go forward by going back.

In art as in lovemaking, heartfelt ineptitude has its appeal and so does heartless skill, but what you want is passionate virtuosity.

More history is made by secret handshakes than by battles, bills and proclamations.

The story of your life is not your life; it's your story.

Is man a savage at heart, skinned o'er with fragile Manners? Or is savagery but a faint taint in the natural man's gentility, which erupts now and again like pimples on an angel's arse?

Those rituals of getting ready to write produce a kind of trance state.

Every artist joins a conversation that's been going on for generations, even millennia, before he or she joins the scene.

Nothing is loathsomer than the self-loathing of a self one loathes.

Nothing is intrinsically valuable; the value of everything is attributed to it, assigned to it from outside the thing itself, by people.

Faith is love taking the form of aspiration.

If you judge art be its cover, you efface the very essence of it

I want a man who's kind and understanding. Is that too much to ask of a millionaire?

Man is the only animal that loves his neighbor as himself and cuts his throat if his theology isn't straight

I always wanted to try to be a teacher even before I was in the music business. I liked history, and good teachers made an impact on me.

I was fortunate to become the woman I always wanted to be.

I cherished the dream of a country embracing all its people.

There's nothing more fun than entertaining kids.

There's always the trick with anything what's a remake. Like how much do you want to make that is brand new and how much to you want to keep that is original?

Elvis was always over the top. That's why he had that gold lamé suit! He designed his jumpsuits himself. He always said, "If you're going to be a star, you should look like one."