What have the Romans ever done for us?

The very essence of playfulness is an openness to anything that may happen, the feeling that whatever happens, it's okay... you're either free to play, or you're not.

All right, but apart from the sanitation, medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh water system and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?

You don't have to be the Dalai Lama to tell people that life's about change.

Creativity is not a talent. It is a way of operating.

Come to me. I want to plow you like a Calgary driveway at Christmas.

A wonderful thing about true laughter is that it just destroys any kind of system of dividing people.

If God did not intend for us to eat animals, then why did he make them out of meat?

Creativity is not the possession of some special talent. It’s about the willingness to play.

When you're being stalked by an angry mob with raspberries, the first thing to do is to release a tiger.

This is the extraordinary thing about creativity: If just you keep your mind resting against the subject in a friendly but persistent way, sooner or later you will get a reward from your unconscious.

You figured that the only way I'd be happy is if I did the things you thought would be best for me.

The way that these girls keep themselves skinny is awful, isn't it? By vomiting or using hard drugs - which I can't afford.

If you think of movie studio executives, say, as society, then I root for the independent producers.

The United Nations is our world's greatest mechanism for making peace

I'm always presenting myself with problems to solve as a writer.

I don't happen to subscribe to the notion that everybody who criticizes Tom Daschle is criticizing Tim Johnson. I think that's a bit of a stretch.

I must have the personal dialogue, the private time, with each painting in progress. I can't share it with anyone until it's done.

The difference isn't resources, it's attitude.

It's not the heart that compels conclusions in cases, it's the law.

I'm just fiercely protective. It's like, that's my lair and nobody messes with my lair.