I drank a lot, but I wouldn't have missed it. I look back on it as sort of dreary enjoyment, because I don't have to be there anymore.

My philosophy is: It's none of my business what people say of me and think of me. I am what I am, and I do what I do. I expect nothing and accept everything. And it makes life so much easier.

We are dying from overthinking. We are slowly killing ourselves by thinking about everything. Think. Think. Think. You can never trust the human mind anyway. It's a death trap.

Life's too short to deal with other people's insecurities.

No expectations. Ask nothing, expect nothing and accept everything, and life is very well.

A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti.

I don't believe in nepotism. I don't much like the idea of parents who interfere.

Relish everything that's inside of you, the imperfections, the darkness, the richness and light and everything. And that makes for a full life.

The whole point of courage, to overcome your fear. That's the interesting thing, when courage bleeds through the fear.

I always liked to take the plunge, you know, I'd jump in at the deep end and hope that I'd find land somehow, or hope I'd float or survive. That's more or less the way I've gone through my life.

You're not more than one generation from poor white trash, are you, Agent Starling?

Humans have come into being for the sake of each other, so either teach them, or learn to bear them.

Its better to create the Character than to be the Character, because the one behind the scenes are the ones that really get full credit

For at the heart of the uniform, reasoning is shaky and elusive: a mind in search of ideas should first stock up on appearances.

Human beings love stories because they safely show us beginnings, middles and ends.

I can move both of my eyes separately in different directions.

There are trappings of science fiction which I kind of embrace, but there are also cliches which I run from.

Currencies are things that you use to pay for other things; commodities are things that you buy. If art is going to be one or the other, it's going to be a commodity, not a currency.

If we do not show love to one another, the world has a right to question whether Christianity is true.

Forms of government are forged mainly in the fire of practice, not in the vacuum of theory. They respond to national character and to national realities.

When I'm riding my bicycle I feel like a Buddhist who is happy just to enjoy his mundane existence