“Cashier: Yes, can I help you?Tee-Ay: Yeah, I need a rattle.Cashier: Aisle eight.Tee-Ay: I'm looking for the kind that'll give a fatherless black baby a future, you got any of those?Cashier: Girl, if we sold those, do you think I'd be workin' here?”

“In Paris the cashiers sit rather than stand. They run your goods over a scanner, tally up the price, and then ask you for exact change. The story they give is that there aren't enough euros to go around. "The entire EU is short on coins."And I say, "Really?" because there are plenty of them in Germany. I'm never asked for exact change in Spain or Holland or Italy, so I think the real problem lies with the Parisian cashiers, who are, in a word, lazy. Here in Tokyo they're not just hard working but almost violently cheerful. Down at the Peacock, the change flows like tap water. The women behind the registers bow to you, and I don't mean that they lower their heads a little, the way you might if passing someone on the street. These cashiers press their hands together and bend from the waist. Then they say what sounds to me like "We, the people of this store, worship you as we might a god.”

“Here are the values that I stand for: honesty, equality, kindness, compassion, treating people the way you want to be treated and helping those in need. To me, those are traditional values.”

“Hath Romeo slain himself? Say thou but ay,And that bare vowel ay shall poison moreThan the death-darting eye of cockatrice.I am not I,if there be such an ay,Or those eyes shut,that make thee answer ay:If he be slain say ay,or if not,no:Brief sounds,determine of my weal or woe.”

“I get up at seven yeah and I go to work at nine. I got no time for livin'. Yes I'm workin' all the time. It seems to me I could live my life a lot better than I think I am. I guess that's why they call me they call me the workin' man.”

“What responsibility means is being your own guru. We can only help you find the way. Any healing, any progress, any hope, and any despair is going to come from you. It is your energy that matters. I can't give you my energy, and I wouldn't dream of it. I need it for me. But I can help you find your energy. I'm obligated to help you find it, in any way I can.”