I’m in awe of the universe, but I don’t necessarily believe there’s an intelligence or agent behind it. I do have a passion for the visual in religious rituals, though, even though they may be completely empty and bereft of substance. The incense is powerful and provocative, whether Buddhist or Catholic.

I do not believe there is a problem in this country or the world today which could not be settled if approached through the teaching of the Sermon on the Mount.

You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you.

Marty was an extraordinary person. Of all the boys I had dated, he was the only one who really cared that I had a brain. And he was always – well, making me feel that I was better than I thought I was.

When everything works best, it’s not because you chose writing but because writing chose you. It’s when you’re mad with it, it’s when it’s stuffed in your ears, your nostrils, under your fingernails. It’s when there’s no hope but that.

Your body has space within you that cannot die.

I believe life is an intelligent thing: that things aren’t random.

There is not enough religion in the world even to destroy religion.

The great fun in my life has been getting up every morning and rushing to the typewriter because some new idea has hit me.

Miracles, in the sense of phenomena we cannot explain, surround us on every hand: life itself is the miracle of miracles.

Becoming a writer is not a ‚career decision‘ like becoming a doctor or a policeman. You don’t choose it so much as get chosen, and once you accept the fact that you’re not fit for anything else, you have to be prepared to walk a long, hard road for the rest of your days.

All intelligent thoughts have already been thought; what is necessary is only to try to think them again.

God is a thought who makes crooked all that is straight.

Control thy passions lest they take vengence on thee.

For me, it’s about becoming a mogul, owning my own projects, and establishing myself as a funding producer. That’s what’s big to me. The movies and all that stuff are great, but the fact that I’m in a position to do what I want to do, however I want to do it and when I want to do it is bigger.

I think I’m like most people – we fear the unknown and the things that have yet to come to pass, which are the very things that don’t deserve to be feared. When you give God complete control, it’s very hard not to be fearless.

There is nothing your highest self wants more than peace. This peace makes you feel worthy of all of the richest blessings of the universe, and when you radiate this out into the world, it is returned to you without fail.

Let me define a leader. He must have vision and passion and not be afraid of any problem. Instead, he should know how to defeat it. Most importantly, he must work with integrity.

If you love something – and there are things that I love – you do want more and more and more of it, but that’s not the way to produce good work.

I was raised in a religious environment, and my wife is one of the more religious people that I have ever known.

The Christian life is not a constant high. I have my moments of deep discouragement. I have to go to God in prayer with tears in my eyes, and say, ‚O God, forgive me,‘ or ‚Help me.‘

I believe that God has planted in every heart the desire to live in freedom.

Every people have gods to suit their circumstances.

If you love something – and there are things that I love – you do want more and more and more of it, but that’s not the way to produce good work. So as an author, I need to write what I need to write.

You just don’t wake up one day and decide that you need to write songs.

I believe that each of us comes from the Creator trailing wisps of glory.

The revealed Word awakened me, but it was the preached Word that saved me, and I must ever attach peculiar value to the hearing of the truth, for by it I received the joy and peace in which my soul delights.

People say maybe we have a soul and chimpanzees don’t. I feel that it’s quite possible that if we have souls, chimpanzees have souls as well.

If in prayer I come before a throne of grace, the faults of my prayer will be overlooked.

I was convinced that the only thing I wanted to do ever – was write novels.

The only answer to fear is faith in God, knowing He loves you unconditionally and individually.

Miracles do not, in fact, break the laws of nature.

The finite is annihilated in the presence of the infinite, and becomes a pure nothing. So our spirit before God, so our justice before divine justice.

O, you men who think or say that I am malevolent, stubborn or misanthropic, how greatly do you wrong me. You do not know the secret cause which makes me seem that way to you, and I would have ended my life – it was only my art that held me back. Ah, it seemed impossible to leave the world until I had brought forth all that I felt was within me.

Trees go wandering forth in all directions with every wind, going and coming like ourselves, traveling with us around the sun two million miles a day, and through space heaven knows how fast and far!

Observations indicate that the universe is expanding at an ever increasing rate. It will expand forever, getting emptier and darker.

Each one prays to God according to his own light.

I always tell audiences when I talk about writing: Writing isn’t something I do; writing is something that I am. I am writing – it’s just an expression of me.

The major religions, Christianity, Judaism, Islam, they deny somehow that God has a feminine face. However, if you go to the holy texts, you see there is this feminine presence.

He chose to honor us with His priesthood. So we honor Him by honoring His priesthood – both its power and those who bear it.

It was the experience of mystery – even if mixed with fear – that engendered religion.

We hand folks over to God’s mercy, and show none ourselves.

Two things awe me most, the starry sky above me and the moral law within me.

Enthusiasm is the most important thing in life.

I love tango, and I used to dance when I was young.

Science is increasingly answering questions that used to be the province of religion.

There is only one religion, though there are a hundred versions of it.

My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.

The gospel to me is simply irresistible.

Changing is not just changing the things outside of us. First of all we need the right view that transcends all notions including of being and non-being, creator and creature, mind and spirit. That kind of insight is crucial for transformation and healing.

I’m just wanting to make the proper breakfast and keep the house. That’s my passion. At the request of my kids, I’m taking cooking classes. As I go to sleep at night, I think, ‚Did I do a great job as a mom, or was that an average day?‘

The ‚kingdom of Heaven‘ is a condition of the heart – not something that comes ‚upon the earth‘ or ‚after death.‘

On a spiritual level, it’s as though with my sighted eye I see what’s before me, and with my unsighted eye I see what’s hidden. It’s illuminated life more than darkened it.

Knowledge and human power are synonymous.

I didn’t want to submit to the army and then, on the day of judgment, have God say to me, ‚Why did you do that?‘ This life is a trial, and you realize that what you do is going to be written down for Judgment Day.

Baseball is a universe as large as life itself, and therefore all things in life, whether good or bad, whether tragic or comic, fall within its domain.

Begin to see yourself as a soul with a body rather than a body with a soul.

There is no sin except stupidity.

Coincidence is God’s way of remaining anonymous.

To be Catholic is the only way of being fully and utterly Christian.

I love story songs because I’ve always loved books.