Astonishment is the root of philosophy.

The awareness of the ambiguity of one's highest achievements (as well as one's deepest failures) is a definite symptom of maturity.

Man's ultimate concern must be expressed symbolically, because symbolic language alone is able to express the ultimate.

He who risks and fails can be forgiven. He who never risks and never fails is a failure in his whole being.

I love Tom Waits because he's an artist who makes me not afraid to get old, and that's rare. I think it's a rare kind of thing to have that level of wisdom. And his lyrics are just astounding; everything in life is inside his lyrics.

I believe that the plight of life and all existence is to master one's self, you know, one day at a time.

I promise my students that if they take the time to figure out their life purpose, they'll look back on it as the most important thing they discovered while at school. If they don't figure it out, they will just sail off without a rudder and get buffeted in the very rough seas of life.

I have learned more about love, selflessness and human understanding from the people I have met in this great adventure in the world of AIDS than I ever did in the cutthroat, competitive world in which I spent my life.