If you have grasped the purpose of life there is no point in trying to make life into something it is not or cannot be.

The effect of life in society is to complicate and confuse our existence, making us forget who we really are by causing us to become obsessed with what we are not.

A petty thief is put in jail. A great brigand becomes a ruler of a Nation.

The perfect man uses his mind as a mirror. It grasps nothing. It regrets nothing. It receives but does not keep.

Do not struggle. Go with the flow of things, and you will find yourself at one with the mysterious unity of the Universe.

If you have insight, you use your inner eye, your inner ear, to pierce to the heart of things, and have no need of intellectual knowledge.

Let your mind wander in the pure and simple. Be one with the infinite. Let all things take their course.

The torch of doubt and chaos, this is what the sage steers by.

When an archer shoots for enjoyment, he has all his skill; when he shoots for a brass buckle, he gets nervous; when he shoots for a prize of gold, he begins to see two targets.

We cling to our own point of view, as though everything depended on it. Yet our opinions have no permanence; like autumn and winter, they gradually pass away.

Never admire a man by his strength; judge him in how he uses it- A way is made by walking it

No matter what, I want to continue living with the awareness that I will die. Without that, I am not alive.

I am not afraid of the pen or the scaffold or the sword. I will tell the truth whenever I please.

Rarely do great beauty and great virtue dwell together.

I always think upon Lee Strasberg with warmth, and reviewing his wisdom is a pleasure.

When you talk about world record times, you have to understand that everything must be perfect the weather, the course, the temperature. It is not always enough to be in good shape.

She might be a great person, but life's so much bigger than just loving someone.

If it works for the piece of music, I'm going to use it. I don't want to be limited any more than [Bob] Dylan wanted to be limited by not using an electric guitar.

Any story you write about war, or film you make about war, is bound to be political whether you like it or not.

There are probably five songs in the world that I get excited about when I hear them on the radio.

I've been working for a long time and I've just really been allowed to work, with very little of the baggage and the pressures that can come with my job.