“Like all of life’s important coping skills, the ability to forgive and the capacity to let go of resentments most likely take root very early in our lives.”

When we treat children’s play as seriously as it deserves, we are helping them feel the joy that’s to be found in the creative spirit. It’s the things we play with and the people who help us play that make a great difference in our lives.

Discovering the truth about ourselves is a lifetime’s work, but it’s worth the effort.

People have said ‘don’t cry’ to other people for years and years, and all it has ever meant is ‘I’m too uncomfortable when you show feelings.

A love of learning has a lot to do with learning that we are loved.

Solitude is different from loneliness, and it doesn’t have to be a lonely kind of thing.

Whatever we choose to imagine can be as private as we want it to be. Nobody knows what you’re thinking or feeling unless you share it.

You make each day a special day. You know how, by just your being you.

The only thing evil can’t stand is forgiveness.

I don’t think anyone can grow unless he’s loved exactly as he is now, appreciated for what he is rather than what he will be.

It’s a mistake to think that we have to be lovely to be loved by human beings or by God.

Peace means far more than the opposite of war.

Everyone longs to be loved. And the greatest thing we can do is to let people know that they are loved and capable of loving.

There is no normal life that is free of pain. It’s the very wrestling with our problems that can be the impetus for our growth.

I hope you’re proud of yourself for the times you’ve said “yes,” when all it meant was extra work for you and was seemingly helpful only to someone else.

The connections we make in the course of a life, maybe that’s what heaven is.

Love and trust, in the space between what’s said and what’s heard in our life, can make all the difference in the world.