There are times when life's just real quiet and simple. I sometimes get tired of people saying, "Well, what are you really like?"

It's frightening and exhilarating. It's like combat. Look at the metaphors: You kill when it works; you die when it doesn't.

If we were interested in making money, we wouldn't have become teachers.

If you want to die, don't make a mistake and not quite kill yourself because the medical bills in America are hideous.

Everyone has these two visions when they hold their child for the first time. The first is your child as an adult saying "I want to thank the Nobel Committee for this award." The other is "You want fries with that?".

But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.

I stopped drinking when I had children because I wanted to be awake and aware. I did not want to be going, you know, daddy loves you and then drop my head on the table. I do not want to miss anything that they do or say. It is important to me.