Men do things. We can't help it. That's all there is to it. As you will discover in time, the primary choice every man has to make is whether he wants to be himself or if he wants peace.

No matter what the delusions are, parents do not really know their children

At the heart of memory, is the stillness of time.

Morality was probably the invention of unattractive men. Whom else does it benefit really

How unfortunate is the guy who does not live in the extravagant memory of an infatuated young woman.

Strong people write bad stories.

And all our gods are not lies. They existed. All our gods, from the beginning of time, have been men with psychiatric conditions. And their delusions were so deep, they passed them on.

The distinction between a delusion and a lie is the very difference between a successful saint and a fraud.

Ambition is the capacity for unhappiness.

He saw in happiness the seeds of independence, and in independence the seeds of revolt.

Sometimes in life, it has to be enough to be proud of yourself, even if no one else notices.

The impulse to dream was slowly beaten out of me by experience. Now it surged up again and I hungered for books, new ways of looking and seeing.

Let me smile with the wise, and feed with the rich.

Poetry is one of the most full ways of discovering what it feels like to be a human being in this particular moment, in this particular set of concerns. It's all about discovery.

Fear is not the opposite of courage. Fear is the catalyst of courage.

I liked myths. They weren't adult stories and they weren't children's stories. They were better than that. They just were.

I want to have complete control over every media so that when I make my record I put on it what I want to put on it. Not what society wants me to put on it.

By my definition, most art has nothing to do with oil paint or marble. Art is what we're doing when we do our best work.

You don't rehearse jazz to death to get the camera angles.