“I do struggle because I’m attracted to beautiful things, yet at the same time I am actually very aware, in some sense, their lack of value and that the most important things in life are your connections to other people.”

“Have you ever noticed that there are people who do things which are most indelicate, and yet at the same time - beautiful?”

“No, he is not tactful, yet have you ever noticed that there are people who do things which are most indelicate, and yet, at the same time, beautiful?”

“Humor is perhaps a sense of intellectual perspective: an awareness that some things are really important, others not; and that the two kinds are most oddly jumbled in everyday affairs. ”

“The most important thing is to hold on, hold out, for your creative life, for your solitude, for your time to be and do, for your very life.”

“You know, Professor, this stray kitten and you have one very important thing in common.''I can't imagine,' responded the professor coolly.'Your life is the most important thing in the world to you,' said His Holiness. 'Same for this kitten.”