Do I really deserve this pleasure? This is American, too-the insecurity about whether we have earned our happiness.

I would say that if you really want to STOP knowing someone, you have to divorce him.

I had a great teacher in India who said to me, 'If you think you're spiritual and evolved and enlightened, go home for Christmas.'

I completely respect the ways people are bound in the lives that they have, whether it's because of forces outside of their control or choices that they've made that they want to honor with their own responsibilities and obligations - taking care of people around them or being a part of a community, or their work.

I never wanted to be the person that waited for a stranger to come to town - I wanted to be the stranger!

There's a wonderful old Italian joke about a poor man who goes to church every day and prays before the statue of a great saint,'Dear saint-please, please, please...give me the grace to win the lottery.' This lament goes on for months. Finally the exasperated statue come to life, looks down at the begging man and says in weary disgust,'My son-please, please, please...buy a ticket.

That's what we're all sort of trying to do in our lives - to make the simplest things work out the best.