“What is genius, anyway, if it isn’t the ability to give an adequate response to a great challenge?”

Experiencing life through a book can help you learn without all the pain of going through the experiences first hand.

And marking off time struck me as something like counting empty spaces-spaces you know can’t ever be filled.

Even if you forget everything else I want you to always remember that you are a person of value, and you have a friend who loved you enough to give you his most valued possession.

When people’s emotions are involved they don’t want to listen.

I love Arkansas but I think Arkansas has its share of unlit minds.

The world is not a rational place.

Like the Bible tells us, when a man will lay down his life for a friend, well, then there ain’t no greater love in this here world than that.

Look inside yourself and you’ll find a world of things (a world of your own experiences)worth writing about.

It seems to me that a man who is incapable of humor is capable of cruelty.

I believe that love is better than hate. And that there is more nobility in building a chicken coop than in destroying a cathedral.

Maybe…in a way, this coffee reminds me of something. Maybe…maybe only a philosopher or a mad man would make this connection, but it’s a little like life. I mean it’s powerful going down and that doesn’t even take into account the aftertaste, which really takes getting used to.

A person’s got to think, otherwise that person’s no better than a trained seal balancing a ball on his nose. If only that seal could think, he’d know he was making a thousand children laugh.

Keep in mind that life produces no maestros, only students of varying shades of ineptitude.

I was hooked on writing. I mean, where else can you get paid for sticking your nose into somebody else’s business?

What do you know about sooner or later? Is a moment only a moment when you’re in pain?

Why is it I’m always so quick to believe that people are thinking…believing the worst about me?

One of the things that I learned is that you never truly know yourself until you challenge yourself.

In my career, there have been three things that were challenging: playing gay; playing a Jewish woman; and playing Anton Chekhov. The scariest part was playing Chekhov!

It was a huge challenge to learn digital painting well enough so that computers don’t pop into mind when one sees one.

You have to meet all of the challenges, big and small. Because how you start is how you finish.

It takes no effort to be ordinary. Ordinary is not even a challenge. You can do nothing and be ordinary.

The further you get away from yourself, the more challenging it is. Not to be in your comfort zone is great fun.

Embrace each challenge in your life as an opportunity for self-transformation.

I was made to be where I’m at. I just had to go through some challenges, so that I can educate others later.