"The only way to find true happiness is to risk being completely cut open."

"In 2008, while the film version of my book 'Choke' was coming to market, my mother was diagnosed with lung cancer. That meant that I had to appear in public to promote a comedy about a son trying to save his dying mother - the plot of Choke - while privately I was caring for my own dying mother. It was torture."

"The trick to forgetting the big picture is to look at everything close-up."

"Some of the best ideas I get seem to happen when I'm doing mindless manual labor or exercise. I'm not sure how that happens, but it leaves me free for remarkable ideas to occur."

"I am often asked if, when I was secretary, I had problems with foreign men. That is not who I had problems with, because I arrived in a very large plane that said United States of America. I had more problems with the men in our own government."

"I have no consistency, except in politics; and that probably arises from my indifference to the subject altogether."

"He who conquers his inner doubts has already won half the war. Such is the immutable nature of understanding."

"Patience is a virtue because a mind at peace can weather any storm."