Longing for something that you once had is a mistake because the pictures in your mind are never the same as whatever it is you are longing for.

Art is a kind of mining," he said. "The artist a variety of prospector searching for the sparkling silver of meaning in the earth.

Racism is a destructive and artificially-manufactured element in the collective human psyche designed to fragment the natural desire of human beings to know and love one another

Get drunk, Austin, have a love affair. It would be a tragedy to die and discover that you hadn't completely used up your body.

Art is a kind of mining, " he said. "The artist a variety of prospector searching for the sparkling silver of meaning in the earth.

I don't know what I mean, but I know I believe it.

Nelly, I am Heathcliff - he's always, always in my mind - not as a pleasure, any more then I am always a pleasure to myself - but, as my own being.

Conscience is a cur that will let you get past it but that you cannot keep from barking.

It is never right to do wrong in order to get a chance to do right.

Stop worrying, nobody gets out of this world alive.

We are all instruments endowed with feeling and memory. Our senses are so many strings that are struck by surrounding objects and that also frequently strike themselves.

President Obama promised to usher in a new era of civility in our political discourse. We should make sure that, quote, "talk to each other in ways that heal, not in ways that wound," close quote.

First impressions are always unreliable.

Our souls - our invisible selves - bear the mark of God Himself. We're like God in that we bear His image.

I'm unable to ignore the gift that God gave me, so I'm going to sing.

Rather than becoming the best, I want to become a singer with meaning.