“There are no good choices, Allison," Kanin offered in a quiet voice. "There are only those you can live with, and those you can work to change.”

“When you can write music that endures, bravo. Until then, keep quiet and study the work of those who can.”

“Peace can be made only by those who are peaceful, and love can be shown only by those who love. No work of love will flourish out of guilt, fear, or hollowness of heart, just as no valid plans for the future can be made by those who have no capacity for living now.”

“People may be persuaded that the machine is doing good. In fact, good is only capable of being done on a small scale. Evil is more versatile. You can hate those you have never seen, all the vast multitudes of them, but you can only love those you know — and that with difficulty.”

“The purpose of leadership is to change the world around you in the name of your values, so you can live those values more fully.”

“You can't always make good choices. Sometimes you have to settle for making a choice you can live with.”