TO preach a sermon or edit a newspaper were the two things in life which I always felt I could do with credit to myself and benefit to the world, if I only had the chance.

The sun, the earth, love, friends, our very breath are parts of the banquet.

Reform is born of need, not pity. No vital movement of the people has worked down, for good or evil; fermented, instead, carried up the heaving, cloggy mass.

War may be an armed angel with a mission, but she has the personal habits of the slums.

You will find the poet who wrings the heart of the world, or the foremost captain of his time, driving a bargain or paring a potato, just as you would do.

... while the light burning within may have been divine, the outer case of the lamp was assuredly cheap enough.

These great turning-days of life cast no shadow before, slip by unconsciously. Only a trifle, a little turn of the rudder, and the ship goes to heaven or hell.

America may have great poets and novelists, but she never will have more than one necromancer.

Nowhere in this country, from sea to sea, does nature comfort us with such assurance of plenty, such rich and tranquil beauty as in those unsung, unpainted hills of Pennsylvania.

We have grown used to money. The handling, the increase of it, is the chief business of life now with most of us.

Reform is born of need, not pity.

To bear is to conquer our fate.

Believe in yourself, not only in swimming, but in life itself. You always have to have fun. You have to have an open mind. If you're not enjoying it, don't do it. Life's too short.

Having confidence is so important, because how you see yourself, is how others will see you too.

I lost my brother when he was 30, and that was devastating for me. I don't know if I will ever get over it.

It is not so important to know everything as to know the exact value of everything, to appreciate what we learn and to arrange what we know.

The question of religion in black America is something filmmakers don't want to touch.

Whos love do you cherrish more? Hers or theirs? when you deside that, it's all downhill from there.

Great affection is often the cause of violent animosity. The quarrels of men often arise from too great a familiarity.

You really need to believe that you are on to something important.

I don't have a preference between theatre and film; I like to do both. But I will say that there's something about theatre that is more nourishing and sustaining than film ever can be.