An Authentic Anti-Hero Hero

Building weapons that we don’t need, don’t work, and aren’t necessary, and have no mission — that’s not bad politics, that’s robbery.

I don’t think there’s anything exceptional or noble in being philanthropic. It’s the other attitude that confuses me.

Being on President Nixon’s enemies list was the highest single honor I’ve ever received. Who knows who’s listening to me now and what government list I’m on?

Just when things look darkest, they go black.

I’ve been accused of being aloof. I’m not. I’m just wary.

You only grow when you are alone.

I’m a supporter of gay rights. And not a closet supporter either. From the time I was a kid, I have never been able to understand attacks upon the gay community. There are so many qualities that make up a human being… by the time I get through with all the things that I really admire about people, what they do with their private parts is probably so low on the list that it is irrelevant.

If you’re playing a poker game and you look around the table and and can’t tell who the sucker is, it’s you.

The light that you think you emanate is not necessarily the light that other people see. You think of yourself as a shy, retiring whatever it is, and some other people will see you in an entirely different way. … You have to constantly learn. Obviously, you have to start with some kind of gift, but people don’t understand that. … I don’t have a gift for anything. I’ve only had a gift of pursuit.

I’d like to be remembered as a guy who tried — tried to be part of his times, tried to help people communicate with one another, tried to find some decency in his own life, tried to extend himself as a human being. Someone who isn’t complacent, who doesn’t cop out.