The basis of art is truth, both in matter and in mode.

You will have found Christ when you are concerned with other people’s sufferings and not your own.

You shall know the truth, and it will make you odd.

The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it.

Right now the whole world seems to be going through a dark night of the soul.

Whenever I’m asked why Southern writers particularly have a penchant for writing about freaks, I say it is because we are still able to recognize one.

...you have to cherish the world at the same time that you struggle to endure it.

What people don’t realize is how much religion costs. They think faith is a big electric blanket, when of course it is the cross.

[To] know oneself is, above all, to know what one lacks. It is to measure oneself against Truth, and not the other way around. The first product of self-knowledge is humility . . .

It is the business of the artist to uncover the strangeness of truth

I don't deserve any credit for turning the other cheek as my tongue is always in it.

The U.S. Senate - an old scow which doesn't move very fast but never sinks.

Scientists were rated as great heretics by the church, but they were truly religious men because of their faith in the orderliness of the universe.

Condition de l'homme: inconstance, ennui, inquie tude. Man's condition. Inconstancy, boredom, anxiety.

I thought: to be tough is to be fragile; to be tender is to be truly fierce.

When you put your feet on the floor every morning, Hell should shake!

You can't rely on your face or body to convey emotion.

Patience has nothing to do with suppression. In fact, it has everything to do with a gentle, honest relationship with yourself.

Pleasure, when it is a man's chief purpose, disappoints itself; and the constant application to it palls the faculty of enjoying it.

It's all based on saying the shocking thing. We used to have a great time going to Hollywood parties and saying 'I think George Bush is doing a great job.' We'd clear out the room. I used to love it.

I am drawn to intimate, often uncomfortable portraits of a woman persevering and awakening.