The people I admire are those who keep on producing and working and going on.

I always wanted to be a lawyer,but I certainly never wanted to be a trapeze performer.

There is a seamless web to life.. all life is sacred.

I think Obama is possibly the most dangerous and destructive president we have ever had

A lot of people in the adult population have a very limited idea as to why they are Americans, why we have a First Amendment or a Bill of Rights.

Do not categorize about music. You take each musician at the time and open yourself to that musician.

I was introduced to jazz, and that's become a basic concern and passion of mine ever since.

My parents were Orthodox Jews but not very regular Orthodox Jews. I was bar mitzvahed and all that. But God was hardly ever mentioned in my family. Franklin D. Roosevelt was.

The media ignores what is really going on.

I would bet there is no place in the United States where the First Amendment would survive intact.

What we have now in America is a surveillance society.

I find I need to put things into words before I can believe that they are entirely real.

Good thoughts are blessed guests, and should be heartily welcomed, well fed, and much sought after. Like rose leaves, they give out a sweet smell if laid up in the jar of memory.

Happiness, remarked Maury Noble one day, is only the first hour after the alleviation of some especially intense misery.

Art is the window to man's soul. Without it, he would never be able to see beyond his immediate world; nor could the world see the man within.

I think that the Middle East is the largest piece of unfinished business that we all have. I happen to believe in the democratization process.

I am vulnerable, starved for kindness. And when I receive it, I lose my mind.

I wouldn't characterize anybody who fought in Vietnam as a war hero. In 23 bombing sorties, there must have been civilians that were killed and there's no heroism to that.

There is never the body of a man, how strong and stout soever, if it be troubled and inflamed, but will take more harm and offense by wine being poured into it.

As far as the illusion of the fame, yes, I can definitely appreciate it.

Pessimism is an excuse for not trying and a guarantee to a personal failure.