When the work takes over, then the artist is enabled to get out of the way, not to interfere. When the work takes over, then the artist listens.

If we are to be aware of life while we are living it, we must have the courage to relinquish our hard-earned control of ourselves.

The discipline of creation, be it to paint, compose, write, is an effort towards wholeness.

Art is communication.

We are suspicious of grace. We are afraid of the very lavishness of the gift.

When I am constantly running there is no time for being. When there is no time for being there is no time for listening.

Aeschylus writes, "In our sleep, pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart and in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grade of God.

Faith is what makes life bearable, with all its tragedies and ambiguities and sudden, startling joys.

Reading about the response of people in stories, plays, poems, helps us to respond more courageously and openly at our own moments of turning.

Freedom is a terrible gift, and the theory behind all dictatorships is that "the people" do no want freedom.

To try to talk about art and about Christianity is for me one and the same thing, and it means attempting to share the meaning of my life, what gives it, for me, its tragedy and its glory.

The Internet is not just one thing, it's a collection of things - of numerous communications networks that all speak the same digital language.

There's something to be said for writing in the morning. At other points in the day, you're a bit more defensive.

So boring you fall asleep halfway through her name.

To be interested solely in technique would be a very superficial thing to me.

It’s just a shame that it had to be played that way.

You can only milk a cow so long, then you're left holding the pail.

No wise man is ever interested in stupid matters like wars! Wars are always on the agenda of only stupid man!

Connect. Embrace. Liberate. Love somebody. Just one person. And then spread that to two. And as many as you can. You'll see the difference it makes.

This AIDS stuff is pretty scary. I hope I don't get it.

The poet is always our contemporary.