“The rule of the universe is that others can do for us what we cannot do for ourselves, and one can paddle every canoe except one's own. ”

“There are only two ways to live your life: as though nothing is a miracle, or as though everything is a miracle.”

“De marxist zou beweren dat de staat een interimrealiteit is die zal verdwijnen als de klasseloze maatschappij is ontstaan, maar tot op dat moment blijft de staat het doel en is de mens alleen maar een middel om dat doel te bereiken. Als de zogenaamde rechten of vrijheden van de mens dat doel in de weg staan, worden ze zonder meer terzijde geschoven. De vrijheid van meningsuiting, het stemrecht, de vrijheid om boeken of kranten naar eigen keuze te lezen, worden beperkt. In het communisme is de mens weinig meer dan een onpersoonlijk gemaakt radertje in de machinerie van de staat. Deze inperking van de individiuele vrijheid vond ik verwerpelijk. Ik ben er nu, net als toen, van overtuigd dat de mens een doel is, omdat hij een kind van God is. De mens is niet gemaakt voor de staat; de staat is gemaakt voor de mens. Als je de mens berooft van zijn vrijheid, degenereer je hem tot een ding, terwijl je hem juist moet verheffen tot persoon. De mens mag noit behandeld worden als een middel in dienst van de staat, maar moet altijd als doel op zich worden beschouwd”

“Wishes and wants do not transform a person; actions and reactions do so! Show the world your plans by the actions you take progressively and consistently.”

“But it’s just that he is basically a very honest person. That makes him uncompromising sometimes.” 

“We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive.He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love”

“Disappointment comes when reality falls short of our expectations. But nothing falls short of God’s expectations because He knows everything.”

“marveling at this boldness and ease in her presence, and not for one second losing sight of her, though he did not look at her. He felt as though the sun were coming near him.”

“Laughter can be used to sooth the mind and get rid of those awful thoughts.”

“We do not love people so much for the good they have done us, as for the good we do them”

“Being in love is a good thing, but it is not the best thing. There are many things below it, but there are also things above it. You cannot make it the basis of a whole life. It is a noble feeling, but it is still a feeling. Now no feeling can be relied on to last in its full intensity, or even to last at all. Knowledge can last, principles can last, habits can last but feelings come and go. And in fact, whatever people say, the state called ‘being in love’ usually does not last. If the old fairy-tale ending ‘They lived happily ever after’ is taken to mean ‘They felt for the next fifty years exactly as they felt the day before they were married,’ then it says what probably never was nor ever would be true, and would be highly undesirable if it were. Who could bear to live in that excitement for even five years? What would become of your work, your appetite, your sleep, your friendships? But, of course, ceasing to be ‘in love’ need not mean ceasing to love. Love in this second sense — love as distinct from ‘being in love’ — is not merely a feeling. It is a deep unity, maintained by the will and deliberately strengthened by habit; reinforced by (in Christian marriages) the grace which both partners ask, and receive, from God. They can have this love for each other even at those moments when they do not like each other; as you love yourself even when you do not like yourself. They can retain this love even when each would easily, if they allowed themselves, be ‘in love’ with someone else. ‘Being in love’ first moved them to promise fidelity: this quieter love enables them to keep the promise. it is on this love that the engine of marriage is run: being in love was the explosion that started it.”

“We do not fail to enjoy the fruit of the Spirit because we live in a sea of corruption; we fail to do so because the sea of corruption is in us.”

“He’s awake and listening to us,” said the old woman. “Sly little rascal.” She chuckled. “But royalty has need of slyness. And if he’s really the Kwisatz Haderach…well….”

“So long as a man does not of his own free will put himself last among his fellow creatures, there is no salvation for him. Ahimsa is the farthest limit of humility.”

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way in which its animals are treated.”