They have assumed the names and gestures of their enemies, but have held on to their own, secret souls; and in this there is a resistance and an overcoming, a long outwaiting.

I wonder if, in the dark night of the sea, the octopus dreams of me.

In the beginning was the word, and it was spoken.

Anything is bearable if you can make a story out of it.

A word has power in and of itself. It comes from nothing into sound and meaning; it gives origin to all things.

If you believe in the power of words, you can bring about physical changes in the universe.

Words were medicine; they were magic and invisible. They came from nothing into sound and meaning. They were beyond price; they could neither be bought nor sold.

I sometimes think the contemporary white American is more culturally deprived than the Indian.

Indians are marvelous storytellers. In some ways, that oral tradition is stronger than the written tradition.

It's a landscape that has to be seen to be believed. And, as I say on occasion, it may have to be believed in order to be seen.

For the storyteller, for the arrowmaker, language does indeed represent the only chance for survival.

It is better to have God over your shoulder, than carry the world alone on your back.

Everyone has their own New York in the heart, place where there is hope for everybody.

Some will and some won't, some do and some don't. If you won't and you don't, then you have no one else to blame. If you will and you do, the world will beat a path to your doorstep…

Obviously there's something very seductive about movies, which can be attractive in a bad way if you're doing them for the wrong reasons - for money, or for fame.

I've been up and down so many times that I feel as if I'm in a revolving door.

I found that a couple of bottles of beer would give me a lift, but the third bottle would sober me up.

I'm a hypochondriac. Yesterday it was brain damage from the vodka the night before. Today, heart attack - my arm and chest started hurting at the same time.

For every sin there is forgiveness, and especially for the sins of youth.

There would be a lot more optimists if it weren't for the rise-and-shine requierement.

We're all haunted in one way or another, are we not? If not by spirits, then by our own demons and regrets.