The middle class is so funny it's the class I know best and it's the class where you find the most pretension so that's what makes the middle classes so funny.

The best place a person can die is where they die for others.

I've always believed that there are funny people everywhere but they're just not comedians. In fact some of my best comedic inspirations were not professional entertainers.

Where I am today... I still have my ups and downs but I take it one day at a time and I just hope that I can be the best that I can possibly be not only for myself but also young people that are out there today that need someone to look up to.

At best the family teaches the finest things human beings can learn from one another generosity and love. But it is also all too often where we learn nasty things like hate rage and shame.

If you're feeling insecure and you need to feel special the best place to go is somewhere foreign where people treat you as special because you're different.

There is only one thing for us to do and that is to do our level best right where we are every day of our lives To use our best judgment and then to trust the rest to that Power which holds the forces of the universe in his hands.

Take those chances and you can achieve greatness whereas if you go conservative you'll never know. I truly believe what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Even if you fail learning and moving on is sometimes the best thing.

Everywhere I go I'm asked if I think the universities stifle writers. My opinion is that they don't stifle enough of them. There's many a best seller that could have been prevented by a good teacher.

When a place gets crowded enough to require ID's social collapse is not far away. It is time to go elsewhere. The best thing about space travel is that it made it possible to go elsewhere.

We can choose a future where we export more products and outsource fewer jobs. After a decade that was defined by what we bought and borrowed we're getting back to basics and doing what America has always done best: We're making things again.

The boundaries which divide Life from Death are at best shadowy and vague. Who shall say where the one ends and where the other begins?

To wear your heart on your sleeve isn't a very good plan you should wear it inside where it functions best.

If you die you're completely happy and your soul somewhere lives on. I'm not afraid of dying. Total peace after death becoming someone else is the best hope I've got.

I want it said of me by those who knew me best that I always plucked a thistle and planted a flower where I thought a flower would grow.

My dream is of a place and a time where America will once again be seen as the last best hope of earth.

If you want to go somewhere it is best to find someone who has already been there.

When I first thought of the idea for 'Sweet Valley High ' I loved the idea of high school as microcosm of the real world. And what I really liked was how it moved things on from 'Sleeping Beauty'-esque romance novels where the girl had to wait for the hero. This would be girl-driven very different I decided - and indeed it is.

In places where this beauty has already disappeared we will reconstruct it.

I played with the same band for years and years and there's a beauty to having one solid core that you keep exploring. On the other hand it's nice to throw yourself in different situations where you find out things about your own resources.

Where is there beauty when you see deprivation and starvation?

There's one more thing I want to say. It's a touchy subject. Black beauty. Black sensuality. We live in a culture where the beauty of black people isn't always as celebrated as other types. I'd like to help change that if I can!

You don't have to save the world but you can be in the world-that's where the beauty comes from.

I like to have Chinese furniture in my home as a constant and painful reminder of how much has been destroyed in China. The contrast between the beauty of the past and the ugliness of the modern is nowhere sharper than in China.