The Russian dramatist is one who, walking through a cemetery, does not see the flowers on the graves. The American dramatist . . . Does not see the graves under the flowers.

Criticism is the windows and chandeliers of art: it illuminates the enveloping darkness in which art might otherwise rest only vaguely discernible, and perhaps altogether unseen.

Bad officials are the ones elected by good citizens who do not vote.

Love demands infinitely less than friendship.

Great art is as irrational as great music. It is mad with its own loveliness.

A man's wife is his compromise with the illusion of his first sweetheart.

Love is the emotion that a woman feels always for a poodle dog and sometimes for a man.

Politics is the diversion of trivial men who, when they succeed at it, become important in the eyes of more trivial men.

Love is an emotion experienced by the many and enjoyed by the few.

A man reserves his true and deepest love not for the species of woman in whose company he finds himself electrified and enkindled, but for that one in whose company he may feel tenderly drowsy.

The test of a real comedian is whether you laugh at him before he opens his mouth.

Half the battle is that people have to like you before you say one joke, one bit of humor.

Find ways to embrace the things that make you unique, and you'll unlock the ways you can make a difference in the world.

And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave, O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

I want my daughter to see a strong woman who goes after what she wants.

To the Latin, cynicism and middle age are synonymous. Look at our politicians - they move through their careers from left to center to right, like the hands of a clock.

When he looked at me, his eyes positively twinkled. Christ. I was screwed. Eyes were twinkling at me.

I get inspiration everywhere - by my friends, my family, and mostly love.

That's the reality in the Catholic Church today You don't want to build something that will be OK for now, when you know this large population is going to get bigger.

We're worse off than Freud thought, because many actions proceed without our knowing anything about them.

I believe honesty comes across in music because for [most] people music isn't just something to dance to.