"Poetry is a matter of life, not just a matter of language." — Lucille Clifton, American poet, born 1936
"Every pair of eyes facing you has probably experienced something you could not endure." — Lucille Clifton, American poet, born 1936
"You might as well answer the door, my child, the truth is furiously knocking." — Lucille Clifton, American poet, born 1936
"In genetic terms all human beings, regardless of race, are more than 99.9 percent the same. Modern science has confirmed what we first learned from ancient faiths. The most important fact of life on this earth is our common humanity." — Bill Clinton, 42nd President of the United States, born 1946
"There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America." — Bill Clinton, 42nd President of the United States, born 1946
"With this profound new knowledge, humankind is on the verge of gaining immense new power to heal. Genome science will have a real impact on all our lives and even more on the lives of our children. It will revolutionize the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of most, if not all, human diseases." — Bill Clinton, 42nd President of the United States, born 1946
"Painting is the most magical of mediums. The transcendence is truly amazing to me every time I go to a museum and I see how somebody figured another way to rub colored dirt on a flat surface and make space where there is no space or make you think of a life experience." — Chuck Close, American painter, born 1940
"Losing my father at a tender age was extremely important in being able to accept what happened to me later when I became a quadriplegic." — Chuck Close, American painter, born 1940
"There's something Zen-like about the way I work - it's like raking gravel in a Zen Buddhist garden." — Chuck Close, American painter, born 1940
"I don't work with inspiration. Inspiration is for amateurs. I just get to work." — Chuck Close, American painter, born 1940
"The trouble with most comedians who try to do satire is that they are essentially brash, noisy and indelicate people who have to use a sledge hammer to smash a butterfly." — Imogene Coca, American comic actress, born 1908
"The greatest masterpiece in literature is only a dictionary out of order." — Jean Cocteau, French author, born 1889