Reading gives you some place to go when you have to stay where you are.

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.

Show me a fantasy novel about Chernobyl--there isn't one! Because reality is more fantastic.

~ Tolerance increases hope between people and their voice of conscience.

Nobody leaves this place without singing the blues.

I love religion but I don't need it for votes.

I have always loved the Bay Area. I spent a lot of time in the Bay Area. I started my career there. That's a huge part of the excitement for me.

In a nation of sheep, one brave man forms a majority.

Sometimes it takes you longer for you to realize when a person doesn't have the best of intentions or when it is time to let a person go from your life.

Everyone accepts that there are inevitably little areas of secrecy reserved for specialists; as regards things in general, many believe they are in on the secret.

I think everybody dreamt somehow to make a film in Hollywood, you know.

It's a very stressful thing, directing a movie. You have the budget, you have the schedule, you are in certain confines, and you have everybody giving you advice about what to do.