No one was ever born without that light or flame of life. Some event, some person stifles or drowns it altogether. I was always tempted to resuscitate such men by my own joyousness or luminosity.When I break glasses in a night club, as the Russians do, when my unconscious breaks out in wild rebellions, it is against life which has crippled these idealistic, romantic men. I respect these men, cold, pure, faithful, devoted, moral, delicate, sensitive, and unequal to life, more than I respect the tough-minded ones who return three blows to one received, who kill those who hurt them.

The unconscious can become destructive if it is disregarded and thwarted.

The diary taught me that it is in the moments of emotional crisis that human beings reveal themselves most accurately. I learned to choose the heightened moments because they are the moments of revelation.

You can either give negativity power over your life or you can choose happiness instead.

New York has an electronic heart.

It is a sign of great inner insecurity to be hostile to the unfamiliar.

Had I not created my whole world, I would certainly have died in other people’s.