Church and State

We establish no religion in this country, we command no worship, we mandate no belief, nor will we ever. Church and state are, and must remain, separate.
--Ronald Reagan (1984)

Eternity

What we do not know--the destiny of the soul, the nature of eternity--is the knowledge that matters most, and only when we recognize this truth can we live with the humility required in the face of eternity.
--Dean Koontz

Know

And what you do not know is the only thing you know.
--T.S. Eliot

Wars

Wars are always, in Lincoln's perfectly chosen word, astounding. They produce results that we can hardly imagine when they start. It is not that wars are always wrong. It is that wars are always wars, good for destroying things that must be destroyed...but useless for doing anything more.
--Adam Gopnik

Conservative

Though innately conservative, rural people do understand that if you skimp on fertilizer in April, you'll have a poor hay crop come September and a hard time getting your livestock through the winter.
--Gene Lyons

The Future

Oh, my god, the future is preparing to leave without me...again.
--Grant McCracken

What You Shall Do

This is what you shall do: love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to everyone who asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown.
--Walt Whitman

Enormous

On me your voice falls as they say love should,
Like an enormous yes.
--Philip Larkin

Here and Now

Love is most nearly itself
When here and now cease to matter.
--T.S. Eliot (East Coker)

Bravery

You can say shocking, scandalous things about Muslims, and opinion makers do, then push out their chins as if they've been brave.
--China Miéville

Kind

Consider it: every person you have ever met, every person you will pass on the street today, is going to die. Living long enough, each will suffer the loss of his friends and family. All are going to lose everything we love in this world. Why would one want to be anything but kind to them in the meantime?
--Sam Harris

Extreme Weather

Scientists know that the increasing load of greenhouse gases we're pumping into the atmosphere doesn't "cause" extreme weather. But it does raise the odds, just as a diet of triple bacon cheeseburgers raises the odds of heart disease.
--Michael D. Lemonick

Humor

Calvin: Isn't it strange that evolution would give us a sense of humor? When you think about it, it's weird that we have a physiological response to absurdity. We laugh at nonsense. We like it. We think it's funny. Don't you think it's odd that we appreciate absurdity? Why would we develop that way? How does it benefit us?

Hobbes: I suppose if we couldn't laugh at things that don't make sense, we couldn't react to a lot of life.

Calvin: (after a long pause) I can't tell if that's funny or really scary.
--Bill Watterson (Calvin & Hobbes)

Kindness

Each smallest act of kindness reverberates across great distances and spans of time, affecting lives unknown to the one whose generous spirit was the source of this good echo, because kindness is passed on and grows each time it's passed, until a simple courtesy becomes an act of selfless courage years later and far away. Likewise, each small meanness, each expression of hatred, each act of evil.
--Dean Koontz

One Life

This is as true in everyday life as it is in battle: we are given one life and the decision is ours whether to wait for circumstances to make up our mind, or whether to act, and in acting, to live.
--General Omar N. Bradley

Ordinary Moments

Well, that's what life is--this collection of extraordinarily ordinary moments. We just need to pay attention to them all. Wake up and pay attention to how beautiful it all is.
--Alexander Payne

Most Important

The aspects of things that are most important for us are hidden because of their simplicity and familiarity.
--Ludwig Wittgenstein

The Secret

I was a "big success," people told me, but the secret I never spoke in reply or anytime was my belief that I had long ago given up on me--the one whom others, in equations of family, love, and work, relied upon--choosing the easy route over a path toward things they don't necessarily pay you or pat you on the back for.
--Margaret Roach

Dust

In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
--Genesis 3:19 (King James Version)

Forgetting

My grandmother showed me that we are more than the sum of our memories. She taught me the vital importance of forgetting; and that sometimes it's only our commitment to remembering that prevents us from accepting the love and peace that surrounds us.
--Robert Leleux

American Dream

For a while, life was good. I married the wonderful man I'd been dating for several years. We bought a house. Saved money. My kids got to take after-school classes. All we needed was the golden retriever, and we would be living the American dream.
--Catherine Lane

Surprises

Life is full of surprises, but never when you need one.
--Bill Watterson

You Never Know

All of us should say "I love you" to the people we care about. We should do it because you never know.
--Jeffrey Zaslow

First Sight

Cynics wil tell you that love at first sight is a myth, but their opinion is not to be respected, and only reveals the sad condition of their hearts.
--Dean Koontz

Public Utility

What vast additions to the conveniences and comforts of living might mankind have acquired, if the money spent in wars had been employed in works of public utility; what an extension of agriculture even to the tops of our mountains; what rivers rendered navigable, or joined by canals; what bridges, aqueducts, new roads, and other public works, edifices, and improvements might not have been obtained by spending those millions in doing good, which in the last war have been spent in doing mischief.
--Benjamin Franklin

Animals

Animals make us human.
--Temple Grandin

Innocence

Innocence is neither naive nor unhip; innocence is the condition of deepest bliss.
--Dean Koontz

Product

If God manifested himself to us, he would do so in the form of a product advertised on TV.
--Philip K. Dick

Trapped

Politicians are actors trapped in the same part.
--Maureen Dowd

Tools

Men have become the tools of their tools.
--Henry David Thoreau

I and You

It's odd, and a little unsettling, to reflect upon the fact that English is the only major language in which "I" is capitalized; in many other languages "You" is capitalized and the "i" is lower case.
--Sydney J. Harris