“I don’t know what to tell you. A statement is easy, and here it is: Be yourself. Try to matter. Be a good friend. Love freely, even if you are likely, almost guaranteed, to be hurt, betrayed… Do what you were created to do. You’ll know what this is, because it is what you keep…

“Do not stop thinking of life as an adventure. You have no security unless you can live bravely, excitingly, imaginatively; unless you can choose a challenge instead of competence.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

“Grief is like the wake behind a boat. It starts out as a huge wave that follows close behind you and is big enough to swamp and drown you if you suddenly stop moving forward. But if you do keep moving, the big wake will eventually dissipate. And after a long time, the waters of…

“The cycle of degenerating discourse won’t stop if we insist that people we disagree with must first behave the way we want them to … The cycle stops when we recognize our responsibility to treat each other with the dignity with which we expect to be met. It stops when we choose to replace condemnation…

“We all have the same God, we just serve him differently. Rivers, lakes, ponds, streams, oceans all have different names, but they all contain water. So do religions have different names, and they all contain truth, expressed in different ways forms and times. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a Muslim, a Christian, or a Jew.…

“Our human compassion binds us the one to the other, not in pity or patronizingly, but as human beings who have learned how to turn our common suffering into hope for the future.” ~Nelson Mandela

“It matters not who you love, where you love, when you love, or how you love. It matters only that you love.” ~John Lennon We had the delightful experience of seeing a Beatles tribute band Rain, this past week in the Chautauqua Institution amphitheater. I was reminded, revisiting the wonderful songs of a band I’ve…

“The greatest gift is the passion for reading. It is cheap, it consoles, it distracts, it excites, it gives you knowledge of the world and experience of a wide kind. It is a moral illumination.” ― Elizabeth Hardwick