If death meant just leaving the stage long enough to change costume and come back as a new character would you slow down? Or speed up?

Of course there is no question that Libya - and the world - will be better off with Gaddafi out of power. I along with many other world leaders have embraced that goal and will actively pursue it through non-military means. But broadening our military mission to include regime change would be a mistake.

If any man claims the Negro should be content... let him say he would willingly change the color of his skin and go to live in the Negro section of a large city. Then and only then has he a right to such a claim.

I read and walked for miles at night along the beach writing bad blank verse and searching endlessly for someone wonderful who would step out of the darkness and change my life. It never crossed my mind that that person could be me.

In my early professional years I was asking the question: How can I treat or cure or change this person? Now I would phrase the question in this way: How can I provide a relationship which this person may use for his own personal growth?

The Chinese government wants me to say that for many centuries Tibet has been part of China. Even if I make that statement many people would just laugh. And my statement will not change past history. History is history.

They must often change who would be constant in happiness or wisdom.

It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad.

For the past 33 years I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: 'If today were the last day of my life would I want to do what I am about to do today?' And whenever the answer has been 'No' for too many days in a row I know I need to change something.

I worked for this company that repossessed cars. Sure enough the day after I quit they repossessed my car but that would probably be my strangest job to date. You have to work your way up to become a hardcore repo man.