Separation

There can never be too much separation between church and state.
--Alan D. Haigh

Cake

From the highest of this nation's perches, in the most authoritative of this nation's voices, a majority of justices told a minority of Americans that they're normal and that they belong--fully, joyously and with cake.
--Frank Bruni

Murder

You don't see murder on this kind of scale with this kind of frequency in any other advanced nation on Earth.
--Barack Obama

Perfect Ending

I wanted a perfect ending....Now I've learned, the hard way, that some poems don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle, and end....delicious ambiguity.
--Gilda Radner

Honesty

Part of the problem why we continue to visit these moments is because there is of a lack of honesty about how we got here. Racism, bigotry, prejudice and hatred are elements woven into the fabric of this country. There can be no healing in this land if we are not honest about who we are.
--Rev. Michael A. Walrond Jr. (the pastor at First Corinthian Baptist Church in Harlem, June 21 2015)

Trauma

Trauma never goes away completely. It changes perhaps, softens some with time, but never completely goes away. What makes you think you should be completely over it? I don't think it works that way.
--Mark Epstein

Fear, Desire

You act like mortals in all that you fear, and like immortals in all that you desire.
--Seneca

Bearable

Everyone is ultimately alone, although the shared understanding of that isolation makes life bearable.
--Stephen Holden

Spirits

I enjoy reading about unbridled high spirits but prefer to keep my bridle on.
--Garrison Keillor

Nuance

The language of bold assertion is simpler, less taxing, than the language of nuance and ambiguity and speculation.
--Rebecca Solnit

Freedom From...

Not many years ago, it was access to information and movement that seemed our greatest luxury; nowadays it's often freedom from information, the chance to sit still, that feels like the ultimate prize.
--Pico Iyer

Long Time

It takes a long time to understand nothing.
--Edward Dahlberg

Harm

Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.
--Mark Twain

Others

The eyes of others our prisons; their thoughts our cages.
--Virginia Woolf

Nothing More

One can appreciate and celebrate each moment--there's nothing more sacred. There's nothing more vast or absolute. In fact, there's nothing more!
--Pema Chödrön

Forget

The propagandist's purpose is to make one set of people forget that certain other sets of people are human.
--Aldous Huxley

Any Language

For once on the face of the earth,
let's not speak in any language;
let's stop for one second,
and not move our arms so much.
--Pablo Neruda (Keeping Quiet)

Innocence

Loyalty, unfailing love, instant forgiveness, a humble sense of his place in the scheme of things, a sense of wonder--these and other virtues of a dog arise from his innocence. The first step toward greater joy is to stop fleeing from innocence, begin retreating from cynicism and nihilism, and embrace once more the truth that life is mysterious and that it daily offers meaningful wonders for our consideration.
--Dean Koontz

Fashion

We live in an age in which ideas, important ideas, are worn like articles of fashion--and for precisely the same reason articles of fashion are worn, which is to make the wearer look better and to feel à la mode.
--Tom Wolfe

Don't Care

I don't care what you think about me. I don't think about you at all.
--Coco Chanel