"Man's destiny was to conquer and rule the world, and this is what he's done - almost. He hasn't quite made it, and it looks as though this may be his undoing. The problem is that man's conquest of the world has itself devastated the world. And in spite of all the mastery we've attained, we don't have enough mastery to stop devastating the world - or to repair the devastation we've already wrought. We've poured our poisons into the world as though it were a bottomless pit - and we go on pouring our poisons into the world. We've gobbled up irreplaceable resources as though they could never run out - and we go on gobbling them up. It's hard to imagine how the world could survive another century of this abuse, but nobody's really doing anything about it. It's a problem our children will have to solve, or their children.

The complexities of adult life get in the way of the truth. The great philosophers have always been able to clear away the complexities and see simple distinctions - simple once they are stated, vastly difficult before. If we are to follow them we too must be childishly simple in our questions - and maturely wise in our replies.

Thinking is man's only basic virtue, from which all the others proceed. And his basic vice, the source of all his evils, is that nameless act which all of you practice, but struggle never to admit: the act of blanking out, the willful suspension of one's consciousness, the refusal to think - not blindness, but the refusal to see; not ignorance, but the refusal to know. It is the act of unfocusing your mind and inducing an inner fog to escape the responsibility of judgment - on the unstated premise that a thing will not exist if only you refuse to identify it, that A will not be A so long as you do not pronounce the verdict 'It is.

Every day we're told that we live in the greatest country on earth. And it's always stated as an undeniable fact: Leos are born between July 23 and August 22, fitted queen-size sheets measure sixty by eighty inches, and America is the greatest country on earth. Having grown up with this in our ears, it's startling to realize that other countries have nationalistic slogans of their own, none of which are 'We're number two!

Then you remember the dream," Mencheres stated. "That bodes ill.

His words are like the sound of a needle dragging across a record. A sinking, sickening feeling washes over me. This is why you should never, ever get your hopes up. This is why you should see the glass as half empty. So, when the whole things spills, you aren't as devastated.

In desperate love, we always invent the characters of our partners, demanding they be what we need of them, and then feeling devastated when they refuse to perform the role we created in the first place.

It can't be overstated how wonderful it is not to have to audition any more. Any actor will tell you it's like Christmas.

Look I eat really well and I work out but I also indulge when I want to. I don't starve myself in an extremist way. You're not taking away my coffee or my dairy or my glass of wine because I'd be devastated.

Truth can be stated in a thousand different ways yet each one can be true.

What we now call school training the pursuit of fixed studies at stated hours under the constant guidance of a teacher I could scarcely be said to have enjoyed.

Even the most understated ceremony involves a certain respect for ritual and pageantry. No one plays more of a significant role than the bride's attendants.

I should like to repeat what I stated recently in the Jeddah Economic Forum in Saudi Arabia: It won't be the religion but rather the world-view of some of its followers that shall be made current.

I'd fallen in love with a woman but she broke up with me and I was devastated. Six months later I went into a suicidal depression from the break-up of the relationship but I resolved to not do what my friends had done. And so I reached out for help.

The fans know what's happened to me over the past couple of years. I lost my family. I pretty much got devastated financially and the fans know that I've had some hard times - and that's the nature of loyal fans. They want to see the people that they love and believe in get back on their feet.

There are moments when all anxiety and stated toil are becalmed in the infinite leisure and repose of nature.

I'm knocking our pitiful pathetic lawmakers. And I thank God that President Bush has stated we need a Constitutional amendment that states that marriage is between a man and a woman.

I was with a famous comedian when a young fan walked up and asked for an autograph. The comedian blew him off. I'll never forget the look on the young boy's face. He was devastated.

Field of Dreams is the only movie - and I saw it in the theater - on an afternoon when I was on location somewhere and there were like 12 people in the theater. I was just so devastated I couldn't get out of my seat. And I sat and watched it a second time.

My father's death my move and my frightening and difficult delivery created a tremendous amount of stress pain and sadness for me. I was practically devastated beyond recovery.

Kurt and I weren't the closest of friends but I knew him well enough to be devastated by his death. For such a quiet person he was so excited about having a child.

I have watched people who have nothing to do with the film business but who have become part of the circle for a short period of time. They can be truly devastated when the film wraps and people leave.