In the holy city of Mecca, violence of any kind was forbidden. From the moment they left home, pilgrims were not permitted to carry weapons, to swat an insect or speak an angry word, a discipline that introduced them to a new way of living.

I never expected any sort of success with 'Mockingbird'... I sort of hoped someone would like it enough to give me encouragement.

Harper Lee

The making of an American begins at the point where he himself rejects all other ties, any other history, and himself adopts the vesture of his adopted land.

James Baldwin

Presumption should never make us neglect that which appears easy to us, nor despair make us lose courage at the sight of difficulties.

Benjamin Banneker

Suffering is the ancient law of love; there is not quest without pain; there is no lover who is not also a martyr.

Heinrich Suso

The principle of equality does not destroy the imagination, but lowers its flight to the level of the earth.

Alexis de Tocqueville

Life's pretty good, and why wouldn't it be? I'm a pirate, after all.

Johnny Depp

Love is not love until love's vulnerable.

Theodore Roethke

Many people and governments share the mistaken belief that science, with new, ingenious devices and techniques, can rescue us from the troubles we face without our having to mend our ways and change our patterns of activity. This is not so.

Henry W. Kendall

Stuff your eyes with wonder . . . live as if you'd drop dead in ten seconds. See the world. It's more fantastic than any dream made or paid for in factories.

Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

Great men are rarely isolated mountain peaks they are the summits of ranges.

Thomas W. Higginson

I don't think people have been able to deal with the fact that African American filmmakers can make movies about life and relationships.

Tim Robbins

Well, beauty's in the eye of the beholder... It's all subjective. I'm kind of shy about it, but I'll take it.

Marisa Miller