More people pay attention to fiction and to narrative than pay attention to journalism. That's quite sad. More people pay attention to television than to prose. That's equally sad, if not more so.

The beauty of love is that in giving it away, you are left with more than you had before.

Awakening into love is a lifelong path.

The drug war is a holocaust in slow motion.

A little anger is a good thing if it isn't on your own behalf, if it's for others deserving of your anger, your empathy.

Every day, human beings are worth less. That's the triumph of capitalism. The money gets made, and the fewer people we need to make that money.

People from here will often say, "I'm not from the United States, I'm from New Orleans."

To be told you've won a MacArthur fellowship is very flattering and gratifying personally.

Genuine inner freedom is the ultimate aim of life. It is the unspoken goal of every thought you have and every action you take.

Life is too short to carry the burden of a heavy heart. It does not serve you or anyone else. Free yourself through the power of forgiveness and compassion.

The best #‎ gift we can give in any interaction is to leave people feeling lighter, #‎ happier , and more at #‎ peace .

The truth will make you odd.

I wouldn't describe myself as lacking in confidence, but I would just say that - the ghosts you chase you never catch.

Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.

I gave my voice to poetry.

The American idea is as promising, imaginative, and full of the unexpected as the land itself. The land represents freedom - the frontier, the ability to make a new future with your own bare hands.

Vagueness is at times an indication of nearness to a perfect truth.

The only bond worth anything between human beings is their humanness.

In a stupid society, a clever man can come into the power; but in a clever society no stupid can come into the power!

Sometimes the story takes you to places that you want to go and sometimes it takes you places you don't want to go.

No healthy civilization can ever be reared on a foundation of devitalized work.