“It’s amazing how people can get so excited about a rocket to the moon and not give a damn about smog, oil leaks, the devastation of the environment with pesticides, hunger, disease.”

In the final analysis it doesn’t really matter what the political system is. We don’t need perfect political systems; we need perfect participation.

If you are interested in preventing animal suffering, the first thing you should give up is eggs and milk, because the animals who produce those foods lead the most unhappy lives. You would do better to eat meat and stop eating eggs and dairy products.

Because we have suffered, and we are not afraid to suffer in order to survive, we are ready to give up everything – even our lives – in our struggle for justice.

Through Gandhi and my own life experience, I have learned about nonviolence. I believe that human life is a very special gift from God, and that no one has a right to take that away in any cause, however just. I am convinced that nonviolence is more powerful than violence.

There is enough love and good will in our movement to give energy to our struggle and still have plenty left over to break down and change the climate of hate and fear around us.

Self dedication is a spiritual experience.

The first principle of non-violent action is that of non-cooperation with everything humiliating.

Concentration is inspiration. You must be completely overtaken by your work and your subject. Only then do all your influences and experience come up to the surface.

It’s ironic that those who till the soil, cultivate and harvest the fruits, vegetables, and other foods that fill your tables with abundance have nothing left for themselves.

Our language is the reflection of ourselves. A language is an exact reflection of the character and growth of its speakers.

The love for justice that is in us is not only the best part of our being but it is also the most true to our nature.

Never, never is it possible to reach someone if you become angry or bitter only love and gentleness can do it. Maybe not this time but maybe the next or the hundredth time.

It takes a lot of punishment to be able to do anything to change the social order.

We cannot seek achievement for ourselves and forget about progress and prosperity for our community. Our ambitions must be broad enough to include the aspirations and needs of others, for their sakes and for our own.

You cannot uneducate the person who has learned to read.

You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore.

Corporate types love to pretend their life is exciting. The whispers, fist-pumping and animated hand gestures are all designed to lift our job description from what it really is – that of an overpaid clerk.

Fashion is everything. Art, music, furniture design, graphic design, hair, makeup, architecture, the way cars look – all those things go together to make a moment in time, and that’s what excites me.

Excitement was plentiful during my two years’ service as a Pony Express rider.

There are three intolerable things in life – cold coffee, lukewarm champagne, and overexcited women.

Does making money excite me? No, but I have to make money for my shareholders. What excites me is achievement, doing something difficult.

It is only by softening and disguising dead flesh by culinary preparation that it is rendered susceptible of mastication or digestion, and that the sight of its bloody juices and raw horror does not excite intolerable loathing and disgust.

My films may not have a great opening, but I am not bothered about it. Whatever the numbers be, I want those viewers who come for my films to be excited about watching the movie.

The trouble with some women is that they get all excited about nothing – and then marry him.