If I had a magic wand, I would live in a building in New York, big enough so my friends, my family could all have apartments in it. We'd raise our kids in the same space and have backyard barbecues and get old and fat together.

I realized eventually that when I ran out of places to stay and found myself on the D train and in Central Park, I was actually homeless.

As well as being blind, Ma turned out to have the same mental illness that her mother had had. Between 1986 and 1990, she suffered six schizophrenic bouts, each requiring her to be institutionalised for up to three months.

People are surprised by the poverty and think that I wasn't cared for. But that wasn't the case - I was deeply loved.

A lot of times we see choices in front of us, and we limit ourselves by what we see. God wants us to see His way of doing things. And His way is always greater than our ways.

I believe that for lots of churches and religious institutions, their main focus on the development of faith among parishioners needs to spread to the community.

We can believe we are being self-reliant and independent, and yet there is still clearly an overarching destiny, a Great Maker. So when we say we have faith in ourselves, we cannot really separate the small self from the large self.

Everyone's like, 'Oh my God, can I ask you something? You were in 'Percy Jackson,' right?' I'm like, 'No, different guy.'