Progress may feel more like loss than gain.

Pain narrows consciousness; pleasure blurs it.

When Medusa looks in the mirror, she sees the Lady of Sorrows.

My passions have never jumped out of the fireplace and set fire to the carpet.

Retirement requires the invention of a new hedonism, not a return to the hedonism of youth

The sewing machine joins what the scissors have cut asunder, plus whatever else comes in its path.

Clothes make a statement. Costumes tell a story.

The laughter of the aphorism is sometimes triumphant, but seldom carefree.

'Be faithful to your roots' is the liberal version of 'Stay in your ghetto.'

Every day begins with an act of courage and hope: getting out of bed.

Totem poles and wooden masks no longer suggest tribal villages but fashionable drawing rooms in New York and Paris.

When you want something you've never had, you have to do something you've never done.

People may hear your words, but they feel your attitude.

No reporter is flying around in borrowed twin-engine airplanes.

Because I-I'm someone who wants to kiss you. Be with you." Eli says as if it is obvious, as if I know what is written on his heart.

Any time there is change, there is opportunity. So it is paramount that an organization get energized rather than paralyzed.

If I asked people to live as I live, they would kill me.

They [potatoes] are good for boys cold fingers at suppertime on winter nights.

Happiness is a choice.

I always wanted to be a great actor.

Because Eddie [Murphy] came from where I come from, the Bushwick section of Brooklyn. People in the projects used to call me Fat Murphy.