"We are the children of our landscape; it dictates behavior and even thought in the measure to which we are responsive to it."

"Travel can be one of the most rewarding forms of introspection."

"For us artists there waits the joyous compromise through art with all that wounded or defeated us in daily life in this way, not to evade destiny, as the ordinary people try to do, but to fulfil it in its true potential - the imagination."

"I had become, with the approach of night, once more aware of loneliness and time - those two companions without whom no journey can yield us anything."

"I'm not making any bets on the future."

"I felt sad because everyday I had to wake up early to practice before going to school. After school I had to go back to tennis again, and then after tennis I had homework. I didn't have time to play."

"Here's a proposal, offered only partly in jest: no resident of the United States, whether born here or abroad, should get to be a citizen until age 18, at which time each such resident has to take a test."

"'Eyes Wide Open' took shape from two real life events straight from my own past. One was the sad suicide of my young nephew, a troubled kid, who was found at the bottom of a landmark cliff in central California. The second was a chance encounter forty years ago with none other than, ahem, Charles Manson!"