“But beware, dear reader. For we go out into the wide, wild world, looking to change, looking to grow, looking for wisdom. But wisdom is hard to come by, and once achieved, it is very easily lost.”

You probably will one day know what this kind of guilt and shame feels like. And when that time comes, I hope you have the strength…to take advantage of the fire and reshape your own sword.

Once upon a time, fairy tales were AWESOME!

Home is where you can be yourself.

So thirsty,” Jack groaned. “So worried,”said the frog. I hope we don’t starve to death.” “Yes,”said Jill, “not starving to death would be nice.”

“I dont know. You just can’t.” “Oh.” This is, of course, the kind of inane conversation that occurs when people are slowly losing their minds.

You see, Hansel and Gretel don’t just show up at the end of this story. They show up. And then they get their heads cut off. Just thought you’d like to know.

There is this weird thing that happens, when you stop worrying so much about what other people think of you…you suddenly start seeing what you think of you.

“So would not thirsting to death,” said Jack “Thirsting isn’t even a word,” said Jill “It isn’t?” “No.” “Then what’s the word?”

You see, to find the brightest wisdom one must pass through the darkest zones. And through the darkest zones there can be no guide. No guide, that is, but courage

When you see yourselves face to face…’ said the third. ‘Then,’ the ravens intoned in unison, ‘you will have found what you truly seek.

The oven became hotter and hotter, and Hansel began to sweat. Then a delicious smell wafted to his nostrils. Oh no! he thought. I’m cooking! He sniffed at the air. And I smell delicious!

There is a certain kind of pain that can change you. Even the strongest sword, when placed in a raging fire, will soften and bend and change its form..

Especially when one is leaving the wide, wild world – and returning to the place you once fled.

I hope that you never will, but, since you’re a person, and therefore prone to making horrible, soul-splitting mistakes

Maybe I’ve been wanting the wrong things.

For, in life, it is in the darkest zones one finds the brightest beauty and the most luminous wisdom.

I don’t like to look typical.

I think writers can respond by writing about the refugee crisis, by looking at problems faced by migrants, by trying hard to portray them as the human beings that they are.

That they chose the path of the mind suggests that there is on it something more worthwhile than a circuitous route to the good things that the good-looking get just by showing up

It’s not like the world is becoming hardcore, Richard Dawkins-atheist, but people are looking to sort of synthesize science – people love science, especially the millennials.

Transitioning to being an unemployed film actor is different, but it’s fun and I’ve been looking forward to it for a while.

Look at the Afghans, during the time of the Soviet invasion. They were among the poorest Muslims in the world, yet they were sustained by their faith in God, and God alone.

I had an uncle who, looking back, was probably not the most-educated physician around but he carried it off so well.

At my concerts most of the chicks are looking for liberation, they think I’m gonna show ’em how to do it.