What I believe to be true I must therefore preserve. What seems to me so obvious, even against me, I must support.

There is scarcely any passion without struggle.

Seeking what is true is not seeking what is desirable.

Man cannot do without beauty, and this is what our era pretends to want to disregard.

Man is always prey to his truths. Once he has admitted them, he cannot free himself from them.

A man devoid of hope and conscious of being so has ceased to belong to the future.

What is called a reason for living is also an excellent reason for dying.

Without culture, and the relative freedom it implies, society, even when perfect, is but a jungle. This is why any authentic creation is a gift to the future.

There is no longer a single idea explaining everything, but an infinite number of essences giving a meaning to an infinite number of objects. The world comes to a stop, but also lights up.

Thinking is learning all over again how to see, directing one's consciousness, making of every image a privileged place.

Creating is living doubly. The groping, anxious quest of a Proust, his meticulous collecting of flowers, of wallpapers, and of anxieties, signifies nothing else.

The beautiful journey of today can only begin when we learn to let go of yesterday.

In the most secret heart of every intellectual ... there lies hidden ... the hope of power, the desire to bring his ideas to reality by imposing them on his fellow man.

One person with a belief is equal to a force of ninety-nine who have only interests.

You do not see fairies through the eyes, you see them through the heart and that took me a long time to learn because I was always trying to see them through my eyes.

We have not long to live in any event. Let us spend what is left in seeking the unpeopled world behind the sunrise.

I'm aware, as a sane person, that I'm not the best-looking guy in the world. I'm aware of it. But when I go into a party, I will walk out with your girlfriend.

American society as a whole can never achieve the outer-reaches of potential, so long as it tolerates the inner cities of despair.

We were nominated [for Grammy] once before for our album 1916. We were up against Metallica at the time and they had just sold a quarter of a zillion albums.

I am working hard to provide solutions to meet a most pressing goal: preserving our way of life for our kids and grandkids.

As slippery as smooth grapes, words exploding in the light like dormant seeds waiting in the vaults of vocabulary, alive again, and giving life: once again the heart distills them.