I think some of our most talented people are not going to pick the arts as a way that they're going to spend their lives.

You know, real artists, we expose our flaws. We long for intimacy.

Many people are afraid to talk about race because it's so emotionally loaded. We don't have the vocabulary to talk about it. Every day, our vocabulary seems more and more inadequate.

People who are sick, or who have been sick, or have come close to death have a lot to say - and they want you to hear it.

Discipline — both mental and physical — is crucial.

I think we need leadership that helps us remember that part of what we are about is caring about more than the person right next to us, but the folks across the way.

I remember from my father's funeral that the minister kept using a metaphor about life of a prism. And I took that away like a cherished image.