“Over the years, I learned that in my career, unlike in life, sometimes my wheelchair is its own automatic door opener. I was able to win the OWN competition by applying one simple principle: be fun...”

“When I was five years old, I auditioned for the role of 'Tiny Tim in A Christmas Carol.'”

“My grandmother was a church organist, but we only went on Easter and Christmas Eve sometimes.”

“I'd wanted to be famous for as long as I could remember.”

“Religion is something we don't talk about, and it is used by uneducated people as a weapon to divide us as opposed to connect with each other.”

“Spontaneity is what travel is all about.”

“Self-confidence and self-will are strength for sacred accomplishments.”

“The Lord is my strength.”

“I even made poor Louis take me on Crusade. How's that for blasphemy? I dressed my maids as Amazons and rode bare-breasted halfway to Damascus. Louis had a seizure and I damn near died of windburn.....”

“I shiver, thinking how easy it is to be totally wrong about people-to see one tiny part of them and confuse it for the whole, to see the cause and think it's the effect or vice versa”

“At sunrise everything is luminous but not clear.”

“I think it's impossible to really understand somebody, what they want, what they believe, and not love them the way they love themselves.”