I sometimes wonder what those of us who are writers would become in a nonliterary culture - storytellers? Hermits?

There is no one as dangerous as he or she who has nothing to lose.

Leave the door open for the unknown, the door into the dark. That’s where the most important things come from, where you yourself came from, and where you will go.

A book is a heart that only beats in the chest of another.

To be hopeful means to be uncertain about the future, to be tender toward possibilities, to be dedicated to change all the way down to the bottom of your heart.

Worry is a way to pretend that you have knowledge or control over what you don't--and it surprises me, even in myself, how much we prefer ugly scenarios to the pure unknown.

Joy doesn't betray but sustains activism. And when you face a politics that aspires to make you fearful, alienated and isolated, joy is a fine initial act of insurrection.

Politics is pervasive. Everything is political and the choice to be "apolitical" is usually just an endorsement of the status quo and the unexamined life.

Memory, even in the rest of us, is a shifting, fading, partial thing, a net that doesn't catch all the fish by any means and sometimes catches butterflies that don't exist.

Every minute of every hour of every day you are making the world, just as you are making yourself, and you might as well do it with generosity and kindness and style.

Revolution is as unpredictable as an earthquake and as beautiful as spring. Its coming is always a surprise, but its nature should not be.

...that once were urgent and necessary for an orderly world and now were buried away, gathering dust and of no use to anyone.

You can receive all the compliments in the world, but that won't do a thing unless you believe it yourself.

Hey, I'm a good software engineer, but I'm not exactly known for my fashion sense. White socks and sandals don't translate to 'good design sense'.

The deeper I get into my life as a musician, I'm discovering that it becomes less and less about other people, and more about what I want to do. And that's a good place to be.

[NATO countries] have no respect for our country. They will do it. They'll be happy to do it.

The 1,000 Buddha, to me, is almost like a contemporary art piece.

So many differing opinions and philosophies... are rarely housed under the roof of a single magazine.

Donald Trump's habit of making offensive and outlandish statements will not bring Americans together.

Many people look but they do not see.

Generally, the greater the stigma or revulsion, the better the bargain.