“What thoughts are so important that it is worth holding on to them even when they make you miserable? Why are you holding on?”

I see people who die a few minutes after a doctor tells them there is no hope of a cure. They give up and go. Others get angry and find joy in proving the doctor wrong. Something within them is challenged and hopeful. Hope is the divine motivator.

It’s hard to carry a child around with you, but fortunately, in most cases, you don’t have to ask a child for directions if you have a well-chosen role model ready to guide you. This is the next prescription:

I’m sure as an infant, no matter what I looked like, I felt like the most loved kid getting those massages. So I really think that was a big part of my growing and my brain developing.

When you love the unlovable and forgive the unforgivable, you’re free.

You too are a work of art.

You’ll see that love improves your vision and allows you to see more than your eye has ever seen before. But be forewarned:

What a shame to be so afraid of failure that you stop living. My wife has a great one-liner about failure: “Never consider yourself a failure-you can always serve as a bad example.” She is right. Failure can be a better teacher than success.

If you see what you do each day as your way of loving the world and helping it heal, then life gets to be a lot different. The difference between burning up and burning out is the difference between loving what you are doing and not loving it.

Not because I’m fascinated by the human body or want to understand death, but I like people and I want to help them. That also became my problem, because I couldn’t help everyone, I couldn’t fix everyone.

I grew up with sentiments such as, “Do what will make you happy, troubles are God’s redirections that something good will come from.

If I told patients to raise their blood levels of immune globulins or killer T cells, no one would know how. But if I can teach them to love themselves and others fully, the same changes happen automatically. The truth is: love heals.

You can find examples of how little we value ourselves everywhere you look. The signs on the front of the convenience stores where Stephen lives in Florida tell the story. Beer, ice, bread and milk are the big come-ons.

How will you know whether you are letting life teach you and nourish you? If your physical senses become more sensitive to the beauty you see.

God is in everyone and everything. When we save each other or guide each other or just love each other.

Do not be afraid to love. Remember dear old Don Quixote, viewing the world with love. He saw many beautiful things no one else saw. Try being dear Don Quixote for a day.

Life is an opportunity to contribute love in your own way.

Fear of feeling bad rarely makes one feel good.

There is a lovely warmness about feelings of nostalgia as though in one’s head one is putting on a pair of comfy old slippers and curling up in front of a fire.

You are in charge of your thoughts and feelings. If you are willing to search for the reason that you can’t let go of disturbing thoughts, you can learn about yourself and restore your own peace of mind.

You learn history in school, and you have a reverential feeling toward it. But by being irreverent, it feels current.

There was a sense of palpable relief that George [W.] Bush was leaving and that the Republicans had slipped back and that was a wonderful feeling.

Muslims naturally saw Christendom as their arch rival. One point that is really important to bear in mind, particularly in addressing an American audience, and that is that the Islamic world has a very strong sense of history.

It’s always been my feeling that God lends you your children until they’re about eighteen years old. If you haven’t made your points with them by then, it’s too late.

People who do not speak our language very well do complain of feeling rebuffed by French people, who can sometimes be impatient, or even intolerant.