The work of preservation demands that the feelings playing about in one's guts not be turned into action. Just watch their passing like cherry blossoms.

In a time of destruction, create something.

In a time of destruction, create something: a poem, a parade, a community, a school, a vow, a moral principle; one peaceful moment.

A story can take you through a whole process of searching, seeking, confronting, through conflicts, and then to a resolution. As the storyteller and the listener, we go through a story together.

I learned to make my mind large, as the universe is large, so that there is room for paradoxes.

We're all under the same sky and walk the same earth; we're alive together during the same moment.

To me success means effectiveness in the world, that I am able to carry my ideas and values into the world--that I am able to change it in positive ways.

Do the right thing by whoever crosses your path. Those coincidental people are your people.

I may be ugly and clumsy, but one thing I'm not, I'm not retarded.

The images of peace are ephemeral. The language of peace is subtle. The reasons for peace, the definitions of peace, the very idea of peace have to be invented, and invented again

Hunger also changes the world - when eating can't be a habit, then neither can seeing.

Being gifted means facing the next level of depth without ever being repulsed by the curse that comes with the magic of being different.

You may not be able to change a situation, but with humor you can change your attitude about it.

I craft everything in the beginning. I know where the characters are going before I start writing the book.

There we were all in one place, a generation lost in space.

All the best essays are epistemological journeys from ignorance or curiosity to knowledge.

I do good when people doubt me. When someone says I can't do something, I want to do more. I won't back down from anybody.

The curse of covetousness is that it destroys manhood by substituting money for character.

Dive into the sea of thought, and find there pearls beyond price.

What the world needs is more geniuses with humility; there are so few of us left.

I don't watch television. I know better than that.