Keep your hands open, and all the sands of the desert can pass through them. Close them, and all you can feel is a bit of grit.

Think with your whole body.

If you are not happy here and now, you never will be.

Human beings are afraid of dying. They are always running after something: money, honor, and pleasure. But if you had to die now, what would you want?

To practice Zen or the Martial Arts, you must live intensely, wholeheartedly, without reserve - as if you might die in the next instant

To receive everything, one must open one's hands and give.

You have to practice until you die.

You must concentrate upon and consecrate yourself wholly to each day, as though a fire were raging in your hair.

The body moves naturally, automatically, without any personal intervention or awareness. If we think too much, our actions become slow and hesitant.

In a fight between a strong technique and a strong body, technique will prevail. In a fight between a strong mind and a strong technique, mind will prevail, because it will find the weak point.

You cannot separate any part from the whole: interdependence rules the cosmic order.

I think women are foolish to pretend they are equal to men they are far superior and always have been.

Any pianist and singer/songwriter would say "Carnegie Hall." It's such a legendary place. I'd love to play at Carnegie Hall. That's definitely dream of mine.

What are the most brilliant of our chymical discoveries compared with the invention of fire and the metals?

Compromise is necessary so long as you never give up who you are. That isn't compromise; that's spiritual death. You have to remain true to yourself.

I love pulling people into concert halls who might not otherwise go and getting their ears tuned.

Only a man's character is the real criterion of worth.

TV is providing such amazing possibilities - you have such lively characters, fantastic stories and ambiguous messages, and viewers feel very satisfied.

The only thing that goes on in your life is what your allow to go on in your life

For every seeing soul, there are two absorbing facts - I, and the abyss.

My job is — I make socks. That’s all I do. I don’t necessarily care about the show. I would rather film this — me doing what I do — than being around my family.