I began telling stories as a volunteer in my daughters' school. But I grew up hearing stories from Cuban and Southern storytellers, and I learned a great deal by just being quiet and listening.

Because there is no nation so powerful it cannot be wounded, nor a people so small they cannot offer mighty comfort.

There are constant cycles in history. There is loss, but it is always followed by regeneration. The tales of our elders who remember such cycles are very important to us now.

I find that it takes a lot of years of living, and many more of reckoning, to come up with one worthwhile paragraph. And when a deadline looms, prayer doesnt hurt, either.

If one mouse is a spark...then ten thousand are a conflagration.

Whatever we perceive as good in the world has always endured, and it always will.

A deadline is negative inspiration. Still, it's better than no inspiration at all.

Here in New York City you can now walk around smoking weed and all they will do if they see you is write you a ticket. Unfortunately, the ticket will be to a Jets game.

Every man is a creative cause of what happens, a primum mobile with an original movement.

I am your own self and the self of all beings that exist.

Traveling around the world during the World Cup in 2006, I was thinking, 'Wow, this is such an incredible and global event.'

The artist's role is to invent rhythms and forms to reveal a deeper apprehension of reality for the viewer.

Before passage of this [Federal Reserve] Act, the New York Bankers could only dominate the reserves of New York. Now, we are able to dominate the bank reserves of the entire country.

I live in a tough neighborhood. They got a children's zoo. Last week, four kids escaped.

I am regarded as a usurper, as an imposter and dilettante, because I do technically come from the wrong side of the tracks in musical terms.