How do we redefine education so that 30-50 percent of inner-city children do not drop out of school, thus ensuring that millions will end up in prison?

You cannot change any society unless you take responsibility for it, unless you see yourself as belonging to it and responsible for changing it.

You don't choose the times you live in, but you do choose who you want to be.

A revolution that is based on the people exercising their creativity in the midst of devastation is one of the great historical contributions of humankind.

Love isn't about what we did yesterday; it's about what we do today and tomorrow and the day after

Keep recognizing that reality is changing and that your ideas have to change. Don’t get stuck in old ideas.

Building community is to the collective as spiritual practice is to the individual.

Talk and write in a way that encourages the mutual exchange of ideas and acts like a midwife to people birthing their own ideas.

The most radical thing I ever did was to stay put.

The only way to survive is by taking care of one another.

I think that deep in our hearts we know that our comforts, our conveniences are at the expense of other people.

Your thoughts are your truth, so make them good, be good, do good.

I didn't really have any aspirations to do TV when I first decided to be an actor.

It is not enough to love those who are near and dear to us. We must also show them that we do so.

It is however a disgrace to pray! Not for all, but for you, and me, and whoever has his a conscience.

I was relatively isolated from people of color. My parents are too old to be Baby Boomers; they had me later in life. So we didn't listen to any black music at all in the house, not even Ben E. King.

I'd like to play a mixture of Lucille Ball meets Murphy Brown meets Glenn Close on 'Damages,' to keep a little bit of the darkness in there. I like dark comedy a lot.

Unexplained noises are best left unexplained.

Ours is the "land of the free"-nobody denies that-nobody challenges it. (Maybe it is because we won't let other people testify.)

I've learned so much from my professors and have been fortunate to have had so many good ones, including Frederick and Steven Barthelme, Edward Carey, Jim Magnuson, and Elizabeth McCracken.

In a basic way, acceptance is seeing clearly what's happening and holding it with kindness. This is a radical antidote to the suffering of judging mind.