We have a very foolish notion in Western countries that progress delivers freedom. But progress doesn't necessarily bring moral virtue.

A good book ... leaves you wanting to reread the book. A great book compels you to reread your own soul.

A happy man has no past, while an unhappy man has nothing else.

There are words and words and none mean anything. And then one sentence means everything.

Writing is not lying, nor is it theft. It is a journey and search for transparency between one’s words and one’s soul.

Is it easier for a man to live his life again as a fish, than to accept the wonder of being human? So alone, so frightened, so wanting for what we are afraid to give tongue to.

What reality was ever made by realists?

When forging money, I had always salved my conscience by concluding that I was merely extending the lie of commerce.

Love is the scent of a sleeping back, death a slight draft of bad breath.

It's a sin for a writer to go looking for camels to put into his or her pages. I only want details that are the story.

The path to survival was to never give up on the small things.

Had it not been for James Meredith, who was willing to risk his life, the University of Mississippi would still be all white.

We look at it as the multiverse. We have our TV universe and our film universe, but they all co-exist.

Reciting poetry isn't acting, it's memory work. Actor's are deceivers. People who pretend to be something else for a living aren't right in the head.

A world without men would consists of a bunch of fat, happy women with no crime.

Christianity is haunted by the theory of a God with a craving for bloody sacrifices.

O Oysters,' said the Carpenter, You've had a pleasant run! Shall we be trotting home again?' But answer came there none - And this was scarcely odd, because They'd eaten every one.

Tomorrow gives a beck'ning hand-- I turn my face away; I'll not invite her to my home-- I only love Today.

Let thy fortune be what it will, 'tis thy mind alone that makes thee poor or rich, miserable or happy.

Meaningful work, not welfare, is every American's hope, and we have a continuing responsibility to make those hopes a lasting reality.

I enjoy doing physical comedy.