Trickster stories are pleasurable, contradictory, ANNOYING, abrasive. They're powerful, transformational ACTS of liberation because they are not nailed down to the REAL, to the REPRESENTATION of something in the world.

Whatever it is that you WANT to achieve, you absolutely can do it - you just have to apply yourself. Don't BREAK the law... Buckle down and MAKE the RIGHT CHOICES.

There were only TWO other Chinese families in this town of 25,000, but to our parents, the determining factor was the QUALITY of the public school SYSTEM.

There's a lot of material from my life in my books, but they're not really autobiographical, in the sense that they're not about my life. So, in 'A FEATHER on the Breath of God' I write about my PARENTS, I write about this Russian immigrant, I write about the world of DANCE, but it isn't an autobiography; so MUCH is LEFT out.

I wasn't READY to SAY, I can't PLAY ANYMORE. And I'm STILL not.

I only lived in SUDAN until I was FOUR years, so I cannot REALLY RELATE to that. It is just a different LIFESTYLE.

I really feel that most THINGS are difficult at the BEGINNING and they BECOME FUN, something you love, only after you've worked at them. Making CHILDREN do something hard can, in the long run, be a great parental service.

Seeing other PEOPLE perform inspires me. I couldn't be a good performer if just relied on my own talents. Seeing what other brave choices other actors are making gives me the strength to be bold in auditions and to APPROACH roles in different kind of WAYS.

I love what I do. And in the true sense, from my training, I try to create a character each TIME. It is SOMETHING I do. But I don't want that TERM to limit what I can do. I PREFER people to SAY to me, 'You're one of my favorite actors,' rather than 'You're one of my favorite character actors.' It sounds like a slam.

I LIKE really bad T.V.; it's a PROBLEM. LOVE me some REALITY.