There is no connection between the political ideas of our educated class and the deep places of the imagination.

We are at heart so profoundly anarchistic that the only form of state we can imagine living in is Utopian; and so cynical that the only Utopia we can believe in is authoritarian.

Immature artists imitate. Mature artists steal.

Where misunderstanding serves others as an advantage, one is helpless to make oneself understood.

Being a Jew is like walking in the wind or swimming: you are touched at all points and conscious everywhere.

The poet is in command of his fantasy, while it is exactly the mark of the neurotic that he is possessed by his fantasy.

What marks the artist is his power to shape the material of pain we all have.

It is now life and not art that requires the willing suspension of disbelief.

Unless we insist that politics is imagination and mind, we will learn that imagination and mind are politics, and of a kind we will not like.

It is possible that the contemplation of cruelty will not make us humane but cruel; that the reiteration of the badness of our spiritual condition will make us consent to it.

The immature artist imitates. The mature artist steals.

some people fall in love over and over again while some people can only do it once.

Real peace goes beyond explanation.

If you think back over your experiences, the chances are that you will find the finest moments in your life were those when you completely forgot yourself.

Every new idea is just a mashup or a remix of one or more previous ideas.

If you take being a father seriously, you'll know that you're not big enough for the job, not by yourself...Being a father will put you on your knees if nothing else ever did.

We are becoming so accustomed to millions and billions of dollars that 'thousands' has almost passed out of the dictionary.

Idleness is more an infirmity of the mind than of the body.

They have to be able to spark my interest so I want to pursue it, and they have to have an awesome personality, really laid-back. All those things are sexy to me.

Wealth is what you take from the world; worth is what you give back.

The life of a solitary man will be certainly miserable, but not certainly devout.