"Man is a creative retrospection of nature upon itself."

"Beauty is that which is simultaneously attractive and sublime."

"Nothing truly convincing - which would possess thoroughness, vigor, and skill - has been written against the ancients as yet especially not against their poetry."

"One has only as much morality as one has philosophy and poetry."

"A courageous heart knows that the true master is an eternal student."

"You know the funny thing, I don't get along with rich people. I get along with the middle class and the poor people better than I get along with the rich people."

"At the end of drama school, I made a contract with myself: I'd try acting for five years. I was 26. I had already spent eight years working in restaurants and gas stations. So I had seen enough small businesses to understand that that's what acting is: a small business."

"I had done quite a bit of research about math education when I spoke before Congress in 2000 about the importance of women in mathematics. The session of Congress was all about raising more scholarships for girls in college. I told them I felt that it's too late by college."