I believe in nothing, everything is sacred. I believe in everything, nothing is sacred.

Most Americans pay lip service to the idea of freedom, but can't handle real freedom.

My paintings are very strange - large and empty, like walls. Just the opposite of my writing, which is rich and juicy.

My personal motto has always been: Joy in spite of everything. Not just [mindless] joy, but joy in spite of everything. Recognizing the inequities and the suffering and the corruption and all that but refusing to let it rain on my parade. And I advocate this to other people.

The highest function of love is that it makes the loved one a unique and irreplacable being.

Whether a man is a criminal or a public servant is purely a matter of perspective.

I started writing when I was 5 years old. I would dictate stories to my mother, and she would copy them in a scrapbook. If she changed anything to make it, in her opinion, better, I would throw a tantrum.