People should practice an art in order to make their souls grow and not to make money or become famous. Paint a picture. Write.

I just know that there are plenty of people who are in terrible trouble and can't get out. And so I'm impatient with those who think that it's easy for people to get out of trouble.

Teaching, may I say, is the noblest profession of all in a democracy.

Only nut cases want to be president. This was true even in high school. Only clearly disturbed people ran for class president.

There's only one rule that I know of, babies—God damn it, you've got to be kind.

Somebody gets into trouble, then gets out of it again. People love that story. They never get tired of it.

So the America I loved still exists, if not in the White House or the Supreme Court or the Senate or the House of Representatives or the media. The America I love still exists at the front desks of our public libraries.