The library is the temple of learning, and learning has liberated more people than all the wars in history.

It is often easier to become outraged by injustice half a world away than by oppression and discrimination half a block from home.

For me, I want to say whether or not you believe in God - or a universe of any kind that's watching over any of us - you can have faith that things will go your way as much as you want to, and they won't.

I had never been to Hawaii, and now I say that my body is from L.A. but my heart is from Hawaii, because I'm in love with it and it's home on every level, from a spiritual, soulful place.

I'm not a chauvinist. I'm a universalist. I think that God imploded, like a spiritual big bang, to launch the eight civilizations that make up recorded history and the religions in those civilizations.

When I was about eight, I asked my mother if it was true that God knows everything about you. When she answered yes, I said, 'Then there's no hope for me, Mum.'