The moment of betrayal is the worst, the moment when you know beyond any doubt that you've been betrayed: that some other human being has wished you that much evil

My brother and I were both good at science, and we were both good at English literature. Either one of us could have gone either way.

What am I living for and what am I dying for are the same question.

There were a lot of gods. Gods always come in handy, they justify almost anything.

It was very interesting to me that when Louisiana was destroyed in that flood the fundamentalists were very quick to say, it's the punishment of God on a sinful city. Now that the oil industry has been so hard hit in Galveston, are they up on their pulpits saying, God is punishing the oil industry? No, no, no!

... Remember that forgiveness too is a power. To beg for it is a power, and to withold or bestow it is a power, perhaps the greatest.

I did not know how to paint or even what to paint, but I knew I had to begin.