To get it all done I have to dim my brain, turn it down by notches like the flat-turn knob on a gas lantern, leaving only a nub of flame.

People have to snatch at happiness when they can, in this world. It is always easier to lose than to find...

Something inexorable seeds itself in the place of your origin. You can never escape the bonds of family history, no matter how far you travel.

It's painful to hold out hope for the things that once brought you joy. You have to find ways to make yourself forget.

My heart is shattered, an all that's left are jagged shards.

I remember her words to me when I left school: Your mind will be your comfort. It is, sometimes. And sometimes it isn't.

I couldn't have imagined how much more there was to lose.

I ... am left with the lingering feeling that the places we go in our minds to find comfort have little to do with where our bodies go.

The older I get, the more I believe that the greatest kindness is acceptance.

Do our natures dictate the choices we make, I wonder, or do we choose to live a certain way because of circumstances beyond our control?

This life of ours can feel an awful lot like waiting.

Dreams are built around the word hello, but in the end fate only knows the word goodbye.

have you taken leave of your senses

I finally discovered something - it's all about Jesus.

My greatest teacher was not a vocal coach, not the work of other singers, but the way Tommy Dorsey breathed and phrased on the trombone.

Anything short of cannibalism is just beating around the bush.

The artists ultimately respond to the public.

The silliest woman can manage a clever man; but it needs a very clever woman to manage a fool.

That thing, multiculturalism, has basically taken over the curriculum, or what is taught in the public school system.

I loved movies as a teenager and saw as much American cinema as I could, but I hated the English films of the early 60s and had absolutely no point of identification with them.

Never chide with anger, but instruction.