“I have an idea and a first line -- and that suggests the rest of it. I have little concept of what I’m going to say, or where it’s going. I have some idea of how long it’s going to be -- but not what will happen or what the themes will be. That’s the intrigue of doing it -- it’s a process of discovery. You get to discover what you’re going to say and what it’s going to mean.”

“And that’s why I can’t go out with you. I’m not going to become a number you can’t identify. It’s not what I’m looking for.”

“You’re going to have to work on your negativity though.”“Better negativity than hubris.”“What do you mean?”“If I said I couldn’t have failed, it’s like saying the Titanic was unsinkable. I would fail.” - Away from the Spotlight ”

“At some point we have to be able to say, “I have no idea what is going on.” Hmmmmmmmm. I wonder if that’s the whole trip, so that we can actually know what’s going on. Hmmmmmmmm.”

“If you want to be a radical theologian, you have to be able to say, “I have no idea what is going on.” That’s being a radical theologian.”

“You are livin’,” she says in feigned exasperation. “You just don’t see what I see. You got something special. Something you got from your ma. It’s a thing. I mean, I wish I had it. It’s this thing where you know what it’s going to take, and then you get it done. You push yourself and you get there.”