Mostly what I listen to when I turn on my little iPod is opera.

Action is the antidote to despair.

You don't get to choose how you're going to die, or when. You can only decide how you're going to live. Now.

You may not know it, but at the far end of despair, there is a white clearing where one is almost happy.

I went to jail for 11 days for disturbing the peace; I was trying to disturb the war.

I think music has the power to transform people, and in doing so, it has the power to transform situations - some large and some small.

The easiest kind of relationship for me is with ten thousand people. The hardest is with one.

I've never had a humble opinion. If you've got an opinion, why be humble about it?

I have hope in people, in individuals. Because you don't know what's going to rise from the ruins.

As long as one keeps searching, the answers will come.

Someone had to change the world. And obviously I was the one for the job.

Remember, it is no sign of weakness or defeat that your manuscript ends up in need of major surgery. This is a common occurrence in all writing, and among the best writers.

Once when I was 16 I had my car taken away from me for being past curfew. Oh, and I said a bad word once, and I actually did get my mouth washed out with soap.

The spiritual test inherent in all our lives is the challenge to discover what motivates us to make the choices we do, and whether we have faith in our fears or the Divine.

People aren't born racist.

I don't mind auditioning. Sometimes, I think it's necessary.

Water is a finite resource that is essential in the advancement of agriculture, and is vital to human life.

From John Huston to Fred Zinnemann and Richard Fleischer and all those great American directors.

I can't very well be teaching one way and living my life another way. What I do in life must be consistent with the things I say. And the same goes for you.

Good and evil are not like the Redskins and the Cowboys.

Only if God can say things that make you struggle will you know that you have met a real God and not a figment of your imagination.