If people choose to live their life in a way that does not confront the more troubling aspects of their experience that's fine if it works for them. But it will probably make them uncomfortable if they come up against somebody like me. So they just shouldn't! They shouldn't read my work!

I absolutely believe in the power of tithing and giving back. My own experience about all the blessings I've had in my life is that the more I give away the more that comes back. That is the way life works and that is the way energy works.

The aim of all commentary on art now should be to make works of art - and by analogy our own experience - more rather than less real to us. The function of criticism should be to show how it is what it is even that it is what it is rather than to show what it means.

Every secret of a writer's soul every experience of his life every quality of his mind is written large in his works.

When a man wantonly destroys one of the works of man we call him a vandal. When he destroys one of the works of god we call him a sportsman.

I'd repair our education system or replace it with something that works.

President Obama is a principled man who has worked hard to put healthcare and a good education in the reach of millions of Americans and believes that everyone who works hard and plays by the rules should have a fair shot at the American dream.

I think of it as a good opportunity to let in particular school kids know that this job and other interesting jobs in science and engineering are open to anyone who works hard in school and gets a good education and studies math and science. And that it's not just for a select group of people.

Many of those who argue for vouchers say that they simply want to use competition to improve public education. I don't think it works that way and I've been watching this for a longtime.

There are 4 billion cell phones in use today. Many of them are in the hands of market vendors rickshaw drivers and others who've historically lacked access to education and opportunity. Information networks have become a great leveler and we should use them together to help lift people out of poverty and give them a freedom from want.