There is nothing more lonely than a true artist.

Identity is your role in life, the part you play. Individuality is who you are, and who you are is revealed to you if you can get to complete presence.

Have some fun while you wait for the will of heaven.

Life is absolutely, mysteriously beautiful.

Books are in the mind, Grandfather Alessandro said. Too many books and you forget your body is in the world.

God made man because he loves to hear stories, Alessandro said. That's a good story, huh?

Every time you hear a car alarm, Ruby said, another New Yorker has gone to hell.

I was wounded by a blow of love.

If God sets your speed limit high, don't be afraid of your life-car being crashed.

Whatever little we have gained we have gained by agitation while we have uniformly lost by moderation.

If I can keep losing myself - and finding parts of myself - in other people's writing and direction, then that's all I can really ask for. That's all I want, to keep losing myself.

In London, people can be so... well, it's not even a case of people being unkind or unfriendly. You just don't make any contact in London. You go from A to B with your eyes on the pavement.

Give me the provisions and whole apparatus of a kitchen, and I would starve.

None of us wanted to be the bass player. In our minds he was the fat guy who always played at the back.

I like Brad Pitt; I just have nothing to do with him.

If my musical tastes are continuing to grow up, and I am not really too interested in the music that my kids listen to, then I assume that the audience is doing the same.

The public school system doesn't get everybody. Every generation has its rebels.