“Life is supposed to be a series of peaks and valleys. The secret is to keep the valleys from becoming Grand Canyons.”

There is no psychiatrist in the world like a puppy licking your face.

What a strange world this would be if we all had the same sense of humor.

September tries its best to have us forget summer.

Few things are as democratic as a snowstorm.

Few things move as quietly as the future.

We must escape our illusions of correctness to understand the actions and beliefs of others.

The day the Lord created hope was probably the same day he created Spring.

We may pass violets looking for roses. We may pass contentment looking for victory.

If we try and fail, we have temporary disappointments. But if we do not try at all, we have permanent regrets.

The average man will bristle if you say his father was dishonest, but he will brag a little if he discovers that his great-grandfather was a Pirate.

Americans are optimists. They hope they’ll be wealthy someday – and they’re positive they can get one more brushful of paint out of an empty can.

Talent is a flame. Genius is a fire.

Man never made any material as resilient as the human spirit.

It is almost impossible to watch a sunset and not dream.

A half-truth is usually less than half of that.

We grow a little every time we do not take advantage of somebody’s weakness.

I didn’t want to be a priest. I wanted to do the work that priests do, and that required becoming a priest.

The ugly duckling is a misunderstood universal myth. It’s not about turning into a blonde Barbie doll or becoming what you dream of being; it’s about self-revelation, becoming who you are.

Things in the margins, including humans who wander there, are often on the brink of becoming someone else, or something else, whose memory may not include the significance of old markers.

Sometimes life isn’t about who you were or are, but it’s about who you are becoming.

I thought being faithful was about becoming someone other than who I was…it wasn’t until I failed that I began to wonder if my human wholeness might be more useful to God than my exhausting goodness.

Russia is now becoming increasingly nervous about a more permanent U.S. presence in Central Asia.

At first it seems as if begoing follows becoming. But look even closer and you will see that there are only flashes of lightning illuminating the empty sky.

Enlightenment is a destructive process. It has nothing to do with becoming better or being happier.