The service of philosophy, of speculative culture, towards the human spirit, is to rouse, to startle it to a life of constant and eager observation.

Great passions may give us a quickened sense of life, ecstasy and sorrow of love, the various forms of enthusiastic activity, disinterested or otherwise, which comes naturally to many of us.

One of the most beautiful passages of Rousseau is that in the sixth book of Confessions, where he describes the awakening in him of the literary sense. Of such wisdom, the poetic passion, the desire of beauty, the love of art for its own sake, has most.

Not the fruit of experience, but experience itself, is the end.

I worked half my life to be an overnight success, and still it took me by surprise.

In inner-city, low-income communities of color, there's such a high correlation in terms of educational quality and success.

One goes through school, college, medical school and one's internship learning little or nothing about goodness but a good deal about success.

Personally, I experience success when I enjoy what I'm doing. I love the creative process, even if the end result isn't embraced by anyone else.