Nothing can cure the soul but the senses, just as nothing can cure the senses but the soul.

I don't want to be at the mercy of my emotions. I want to use them, to enjoy them, and to dominate them.

Behind every exquisite thing that existed, there was something tragic.

The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame.

Oh, brothers! I don't care for brothers. My elder brother won't die, and my younger brothers seem never to do anything else.

If a man treats life artistically, his brain is his heart.

What fire does not destroy, it hardens

All art is at once surface and symbol. Those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril.

Whenever a man does a thoroughly stupid thing, it is always from the noblest motives.

Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter.

The basis of optimism is sheer terror.

The most painful moment in my life also became the moment I showed the most strength and courage.

The thing he said aloud did not succeed.

What happens when two broken hearts meet? Then the road gets very bumpy, but sooner or later if the pieces fit then the broken pieces from each heart will mend the other one.

The key to success is to develop a winning edge.

An intellectual may be defined as a man who speaks with general authority about a subject on which he has no particular competence.

All these ways we classify things as R&B and hip-hop and rock... It's bullshit. It's all music. If you put yourself in that box, then you won't be able to hear that it's all music at its soul.

Try to realize all the blessings you have, and you will find perhaps that they are more than you suppose.

Even if I weren't in Hollywood, I would feel pressure to look a certain way.

I think that I recall the nostalgic '50s: the start of early television and rock-and-roll, and I think everything seemed to get very generic. Not much has changed.

Theirs is the present who can praise the past.