To get from people you had to give a piece of yourself, a real piece that mattered. Just being nice was not enough.

You can't walk alone. Many have given the illusion, but none have really walked alone. Man is not made that way. Each man is bedded in his people, their history, their culture, and their values.

The words dripped on my consciousness, sank into my being, and carried me away to the magic long ago of once upon a time.

To get where you want to go, you can't only do what you like.

You don't have to be a good person to be a good writer--history shows it's better if you're not--but you have to understand your badness.

What do you get out of hating people, out of having this bitterness in your heart always?

Mom had the kind of love for her that you could feel, like it was part of the atmosphere

Many have changed so much that they have lost the magic of the dream that carried them on their own bootstraps.

They say life is all about connecting, like that's a good thing. But when brain and eyes are lining up you know different.

With Shakespeare and poetry, a new world was born. New dreams, new desires, a self consciousness was born. I desired to know to know myself in terms of the new standards set by these books.

Only by knowing yourself can you live honestly and find your own path.

If you're not open, you're not transparent, you're still holding on to vaults of information, you're not going to build that trust.

Although beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, the feeling of being beautiful exists solely in the mind of the beheld.

I have way too shady a background to get into politics. I was a crazy kid - I was in bands, and I don't think I'd get very far before people started digging up stuff I didn't want them to see.

I'm still very careless about my public persona. Not careless so to speak but I'm not one for fame. I think fame is the worst part about it.

Art will liberate itself from the needs and desires of men. No longer will we paint a forest ora horseas we like oras theyappear to us, but as they really are.

I've grown tired of traveling alone, won't you ride with me?

The writer I feel the most affinity with - you said you felt my books are 19th century novels, I think they're 18th century novels - is Fielding, Henry Fielding, he's the guy who does it for me.

Hard work certainly goes a long way. These days a lot of people work hard, so you have to make sure you work even harder and really dedicate yourself to what you are doing and setting out to achieve.

He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.