The past could always be annihilated. Regret, denial, or forgetfulness could do that. But the future was inevitable.

I don't want to be at the mercy of my emotions. I want to use them, to enjoy them, and to dominate them.

Behind every exquisite thing that existed, there was something tragic.

The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame.

Oh, brothers! I don't care for brothers. My elder brother won't die, and my younger brothers seem never to do anything else.

If a man treats life artistically, his brain is his heart.

What fire does not destroy, it hardens

All art is at once surface and symbol. Those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril.

Whenever a man does a thoroughly stupid thing, it is always from the noblest motives.

Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter.

The basis of optimism is sheer terror.

You can design and create, and build the most wonderful place in the world. But it takes people to make the dream a reality.

People alive are better than people not alive.

Women are not ladies. The term connotates females who are simultaneously put on a pedestal and patronized.

Alan King, a comedian I adored, was considered society, and I was considered the Jewish kid from the neighborhood.

I'd rather be appreciated for my character in a film than my looks.

Make no mistake: peaceful madmen are ahead of the future.

When a man dies he kicks the dust.

I'm a big believer in luck - the harder you work, the luckier you become.

Sometimes the world is just out of our control and we like to blames ourselves so that we can make sense out of it.

What's a soup kitchen?