I read for growth, firmly believing that what you are today and what you will be in five years depends on two things: the people you meet and the books you read.

To embrace luck, you have to enhance your tolerance for ambiguity.

I learned very early that an audience would relax and look at things differently if they felt they could laugh with you from time to time. There's an energy that comes through the release of tension that is laughter.

Confidence is a trait that has to be earned honestly and refreshed constantly; you have to work as hard to protect your skills as you did to develop them. . . The one thing that creative souls around the world have in common is that they all have to practice to maintain their skills. Art is a vast democracy of habit.

Optimism with some experience behind it is much more energizing than plain old experience with a certain degree of cynicism.

I write. I have read a great deal. I enjoy books. I like the wit of languages. Even French I like. I like to be able to think in different modes. I like to be able to use the language a great deal and carry on rehearsals in French.

That's what improvising is like for me. There's no tollbooth between my impulse and my action.