Through writing, through that process, they realize that they become more intelligent, and more honest and more imaginative than they can be in any other part of their life.

A couple of years I taught in graduate programs at NYU and Columbia, in the early eighties.

If you dedicate your attention to discipline in your life you become smarter while you are writing than while you are hanging out with your pals or in any other line of work.

John Brown first swam into my vision in the 1960s when I was a political activist in the civil rights movement and the anti-war movement at Chapel Hill, where I went to university.

Like Neanderthals, men prefer to hunt alone or, if in a pack, at the head of it. Women, whether in the field or in a campfire, are collaborative, and when they hunt...they work together.

Lists of books we reread and books we can't finish tell more about us than about the relative worth of the books themselves.

Loyalty is weird, it kicks in when you dont expect it and the people who deserve loyalty least seem to get it the most.

For almost anyone who chooses to be a writer, since so very few writers are able to learn a living from their work that is equivalent to the living earned by the average dentist or accountant.

Chimpanzees are endangered. Severely.

Let the truth take care of itself, I decided. It's done all right on its own so far.

The best thing about writing programs is that it rationalized the apprenticeship of a writer.

As long as you try to think intelligently, you have missed the point.

You have exactly three seconds to get out of here before I do everything I’ve been thinking about since the first day I saw you. You decide. Now.

I can’t understand it when people say they don’t like a particular color. . . . How on earth can you not like a color?

We need to explore the relationship between means and ends. Purposes grow out of situations. One may find the pursuit first and then this brings the purpose.

There is no greater method for experiencing peace of mind and happiness than to understand and meditate on Emptiness.

You have to be concerned with yourself because if you're not on it all the time, nobody else is going to be.

There are reports that French President Francois Hollande had an affair with an actress who is 18 years younger than him. It's pretty serious. Under French law, he could face up to 30 high fives.

God knows the dreams and desires in your heart; in fact, He gave them to you. He will order your steps and take you where you need to be.

When the world becomes a massive mess with nobody at the helm, it's time for artists to make their mark.

We are held accountable for every intention, which is why you are sitting where you are right now.