I'll never forget watching 'I'm Not There' with Cate Blanchett, because it was the first time she saw the finished film and saw her performance in it. I was sitting next to her experiencing it vicariously through her fresh eyes and hoping she liked it.

But sometimes I fear that the people of my country can unite only beside victims' bodies, over coffins and in cemeteries. Like tribesmen who dance around old totems, we ignore the living and can only appreciate the dead.

Even if you overcome a tremendous challenge and feel the personal victory, it's simply not powerful enough. It may activate your left brain, which says, 'I have achieved,' but it will not activate your more social right brain, which desperately desires to say, 'Look, Ma, I did it!'

I was not alone in the human condition.

Every living creature needs to hear the beating of another heart once in a while." Her words were quiet, almost as if she were only thinking them, not speaking at all. "Nothing God made on this earth is meant to go on its way alone.

Ever'body got story. Ever'body got a reason for what they do. You eat off somebody else's plate, drink a their cup, could be, you'd be the same way.

Find the beautiful things, little brother. Every time you mourn for me, I'll be far away. But when you celebrate, I'll be right there with you, dancing.

That's what I'd say in my essay about To Kill a Mockingbird, I decided. I'd make sure the English teacher knew that the story of Jem and Scout and Atticus Finch wasn't just words someone made up in a book. There were people who lived it—people of all different

It's funny how when you think you've got problems, you usually don't have to look far to find someone who's in a lot worse shape.

Hardship finds its way into every life. It's just much easier to see our own than other people's.

Every time you mourn for me, I'll be far away. But when you celebrate, I'll be right there with you, dancing.

She looked around the room then, and her eyes got misty, and she said we kids oughta remember there was a time when some folks had it a lot harder than others. I couldn't see how things were so different now.