Great art always transcends its culture, while lesser art merely reflects it.

I can't think of one great human being in the arts, or in history generally, who conformed, who succeeded, as education experts tell us children must succeed, with his peer group.

A good laugh heals a lot of hurts.

We do not love each other without changing each other.

We are suspicious of grace. We are afraid of the very lavishness of the gift.

Plato spoke of the necessity for divine madness in the poet. It is a frightening thing to open oneself to this strange and dark side of the divine; it means letting go our sane self control, that control which gives us the illusion of safety. But safety is only an illusion, and letting it go is part of listening to the silence, and to the spirit.

If we are not willing to fail we will never accomplish anything. All creative acts involve the risk of failure.