Confucianism is all about tempering your instincts with intellectual discipline, with book learning.

Even North Korean people who are not necessarily happy with economic policies are still loyal to the state itself. It's a military-first state, so whether it does very well on the economic front or not, is not central to public support for it.

I'm not a writer. I like being a reader.

People used to expect literary novels to deepen the experience of living; now they are happy with any sustained display of writerly cleverness.

St. Paul would say to the philosophers that God created man so that he would seek the Divine, try to attain the Divine. That is why all pre-Christian philosophy is theological at its summit.

That willing suspension of disbelief for the moment, which constitutes poetic faith.

I must ask the Lord to direct the Holy Spirit within me to drain the life out of sin and in prayer.

I've always slightly envied other actors I know who have different reputations. I think, 'God, you don't get people coming up to you, going, 'Hey!' - because they're scared of you.'