We have so many young men, especially, who are growing up without their dads. We have to fill that void. We have to do a better job helping young people see what it means to be a man, what it means to be a woman. And then, somehow, we have to put that family structure back together.

O Lord, Sula,” she cried, “girl, girl, girlgirlgirl.” It was a fine cry—loud and long—but it had no bottom and it had no top, just circles and circles of sorrow.

When am I happy and when am I sad and what is the difference? What do I need to know to stay alive? What is true in the world?

The real hell of Hell is that it is forever.' Sula said that. She said doing anything forever and ever was hell.

Now he knew why he loved her so. Without ever leaving the ground, she could fly. 'There must be another one like you,' he whispered to her. 'There's got to be at least one more woman like you.

For now he knew what Shalimar knew: If you surrendered to the air, you could ride it.

The loss pressed down on her chest and came up into her throat. it was a fine cry -- loud and long -- but it had no bottom and no top, just circles and circles of sorrow.

No matter what all your teeth and wet fingers anticipated, there was no accounting for the way that simple joy could shake you.

It was a fine cry - loud and long - but it had no bottom and it had no top, just circles and circles of sorrow.

Definitions belong to the definers, not the defined.

There is no such thing as nonfiction.

The large print giveth and the small print taketh away.

Let me fall out of the window/ With confetti in my hair

The big print giveth and the small print taketh away.

A gentleman is someone who can play the accordion, but doesn't.

Septimus. When we have found all the mysteries and lost all the meaning, we will be all alone, on an empty shore. Thomasina. Then we will dance. Is this a waltz?

It would have been nice to have had unicorns.

Eternity is a terrible thought. I mean, where's it going to end?

It is a sobering thought that when Mozart was my age, he had been dead for two years.

I thought about majoring in Math, Chemistry and English, but Math had the fewest requirements, so I went with it. I knew I wanted to teach, and Math was my field, so I studied Math.

What I find sometimes that is tricky is if actors are using too much of their own life in a picture, in a scene, they get locked into a particular way to play the scene, and it lacks an immediacy.

I've always thought of the audience. I just want to entertain the audience. That's what it's about: what's good for the movie, what's best for the movie, what's best for the audience.

If it ain't broke, you can probably still fix it.

Nothing's as easy as it is on a sitcom. Issues that we take care of in 20 minutes on the show can stretch out over years in real families.