John Steinbeck // "After the bare requisites to living and reproducing, man wants most to leave some record of himself, a proof, perhaps, that he has really existed. He leaves his proof on wood, on stone or on the lives of other people. This deep desire exists in everyone, from the boy who writes dirty words in a public toilet to the Buddha who etches his image in the mind. Life is so unreal. I think that we seriously doubt that we exist and go about trying to prove that we do."
F. Scott Fitzgerald // "For what it's worth...it's never too late, or in my case too early, to be whoever you want to be. There's no time limit. Start whenever you want. You can change or stay the same. There are no rules... We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you've never felt before. I hope you meet people who have a different point of view. I hope you live a life you're proud of, and if you're not, I hope you have the courage to start over again."
Tom Hanks // "Floss...and just learn how to relax."
Hayao Miyazaki // "Whenever someone creates something with all of their heart, then that creation is given a soul."
John F. Kennedy // "If more politicians knew poetry, and more poets knew politics, I am convinced the world would be a little better place in which to live."
Salvador Dali // "There are some days when I think I'm going to die from an overdose of satisfaction."
Ethan Hawke // "I personally don't think grand gestures are actually romantic. The most romantic moments of my life have been so subtle and small. A snowstorm breakfast, a walk, an accidental meeting. Whenever you start planning these grand things, 'I'm gonna pick the great flower from the top of Mt. Everest,' you're already losing. You're trying too hard."
Christopher Walken // "I had an agent...who said to me, "You're gonna be in Los Angeles now once in a while. If somebody invites you to a party, don't go. Stay in your room, go to the movies." And I have a feeling I know sort of what he meant: Don't show your face around too much. Let 'em be a little glad to see you."
Dizzy Gillespie // "It's taken me all my life to learn what not to play."
Jean-Paul Sartre // "There may be more beautiful times, but this one is ours."
Martin Luther King Jr. // "A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom."
Anne Frank // "Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy."