We are all a part of a culture of violence that dominates every aspect of our lives.

A polite enemy is just as difficult to discredit, as a rude friend is to protect.

People use words to do battle and to hurt one another terribly, tragically and even mortally.

When we want to talk, we can instead listen, and let our attentiveness to another's need to speak be our silent statement.

Respectful communication under conflict or opposition is an essential and truly awe-inspiring ability.

We must quit thinking we know everything, and quit placing "knowledge" over kindness and compassion.

The dreamer's untamed eye sees beyond the illusions to the heart of what is real.

There is no greater intelligence than kindness and empathy.

Love only serves and does not calculate.

If you do not like a certain behavior in others, look within yourself to find the roots of what discomforts you.

Materialism is an identity crisis.

S is for SCARY! Fear is driven out by action! Bad habits are overcome by good habits.

I must confess that waltzes do not move me, I guess I hummed the blues too early, and spent too many midnights out wailing to the rain.

We do not enjoy a story fully at the first reading. Not till the curiosity, the sheer narrative lust, has been given its sop and laid asleep, are we at leisure to savour the real beauties.

It is very difficult to sustain a high-quality relationship that has the kind of mutual intensity, that has a kind of mutual respect, without putting in time.

I don't back down. I don't cave when the pressure gets too great from these partisan political ideological forces.

I never believed in trying to do anything. Whatever I set out to do I found I had already accomplished.

I never went to school for art or was told what to like or when. So every day is a learning process, like most of life.

For me, I walk a line of fame and infamy. I walk the line of celebrity and non-celebrity.

I was able to see what I wanted to do, I could see the opportunity, even when others could not, and I stay committed to doing it and doing it well, no matter what.

Mothers and grandmothers: these are the people that I admire most, not so much chefs.