The emperor would prefer the poet to keep away from politics, the emperor's domain, so that he can manage things the way he likes.

In dealing with a man who thinks you are a fool, it is good sometimes to remind him that you know what he knows but have chosen to appear foolish for the sake of peace.

There is that great proverb — that until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter.

Nobody can teach me who I am. You can describe parts of me, but who I am - and what I need - is something I have to find out myself.

People say that if you find water rising up to your ankle, that's the time to do something about it, not when it's around your neck.

Become familiar with your home, but know also about your neighbors. The young man who never went anywhere thinks his mother is the greatest cook.

The damage done in one year can sometimes take ten or twenty years to repair.

When brothers fight to death a stranger inherit their father’s estate

If you only hear one side of the story, you have no understanding at all.

One of the truest tests of integrity is its blunt refusal to be compromised.

As long as one people sit on another and are deaf to their cry, so long will understanding and peace elude all of us.

The Qu'ran is God's song, not ours, not even Muhammad's. To allow such a song to pass through one's body, however imperfectly, is to discover that the instrument is transformed by the music.

Don't want to think about it? No problem. Don't think about it.

The silence was enchanting. Infinite space seemed to enter it, and my spirit, alone with the stars, seemed capable of any adventure.

As soon as you become a parent, everyone gives you their parenting advice. It's like an onslaught of information about how other people do it.

Philosophy - hopeless. Yet it gives me hope.

Myself, Marion Jones and Michael Johnson all got married on the same day because it was the only point on the athletics' schedule we could fit in. October 3, 1998.

I was lucky to have a great dad.

It is not what an artist does that counts...but what he is.

They tried to get me-I got them first! (suicide note)

I wouldn't mind doing more in the kid's world because I think that might be just where I can be most useful to society, to the planet, if I can speak to children.