"Suspicion is not less an enemy to virtue than to happiness he that is already corrupt is naturally suspicious, and he that becomes suspicious will quickly be corrupt."

"The chief ingredients in the composition of those qualities that gain esteem and praise, are good nature, truth, good sense, and good breeding."

"The stars shall fade away, the sun himself Grow dim with age, and nature sink in years, But thou shalt flourish in immortal youth, Unhurt amidst the wars of elements, The wrecks of matter, and the crush of worlds."

"A cloudy day or a little sunshine have as great an influence on many constitutions as the most recent blessings or misfortunes."

"All of Koons's best art - the encased vacuum cleaners, the stainless-steel Rabbit (the late-twentieth century's signature work of Simulationist sculpture), the amazing gleaming Balloon Dog, and the cast-iron re-creation of a Civil War mortar exhibited last month at the Armory - has simultaneously flaunted extreme realism, idealism, and fantasy."

"Wisdom is the quiet art of recognizing what can be changed and releasing what cannot. Such is the immutable nature of understanding."

"It is only in his music, which Americans are able to admire because a protective sentimentality limits their understanding of it, that the Negro in America has been able to tell his story."

"For me making music is part social, part interaction, part collaboration."