We have a culture that is indirect in the extreme, where by the time you're five years old, you've watched tons of television, and have been subjected to what I call "the age of interruption," where everything is interrupted every minute. We have constant input from TV, computers, fax machines, telephones, etc. It's very hard for a modern American to have two hours of uninterrupted time. I know how it is because I insist on several hours of uninterrupted time each day, and I know how ruthless I have to be to get it.

I require and enforce as non-interrupted a state of living as you can get in America right now without going off to live by yourself in the mountains.

Most of us aren't very graceful about not having our needs met, when and how we want them met.

The people you have to lie to, own you. The things you have to lie about, own you.

If your vulnerability has become hardened, it's very, very difficult to be creative.

My spirit life very much depends on my work. My work very much depends on my spirit life. And I pray every day, as part of my own ritual, to a god I believe in, not a god somebody else believes in.

Good is not the opposite of evil, joy is the opposite of evil.