I wondered, "Why have I been chasing happiness my whole life when bliss was here the entire time?

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

Even in the worst tragedies and crisis, there’s no reason to add to everyone’s misery by looking miserable yourself.

As smoking is to the lungs, so is resentment to the soul; even one puff is bad for you.

In a world of disorder and disaster and fraud, sometimes only beauty can be trusted.

I have my own set of survival techniques. I am patient. I know how to pack light. But my one might travel talent is that I can make friends with anybody. I can make friends with the dead. If there isn’t anyone else around to talk to, I could probably make friends with a four-foot-tall pile of sheetrock. That is why I’m not afraid to travel to the most remote places in the world, not if there are human beings there to meet. People asked me before I left, “do you have friends [there]?’ and I would just shake my head no, thinking to myself, But I will.

You know, it’s the same thing as the question of free will and destiny, the question of creativity - you, the artist, you’re not the puppet of the piano, you’re not the puppet of the muse, but you’re not its master, either. It’s a relationship, it’s a conversation, and all it wants is to be treated with respect and dignity - and it will return ten thousand times over.