“Religion is like a knife: you can either use it to cut bread, or stick in someone’s back.”

Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.

If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse, and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.

Forgiveness is simply about understanding that every one of us is both inherently good and inherently flawed.

Within every hopeless situation and every seemingly hopeless person lies the possibility of transformation

Be nice to whites, they need you to rediscover their humanity.

We are made for loving. If we don’t love, we will be like plants without water.

We are made for goodness. We are made for love. We are made for friendliness. We are made for togetherness. We are made for all of the beautiful things that you and I know.

A person is a person through other persons.

In the end what matters is not how good we are but how good God is. Not how much we love Him but how much He loves us. And God loves us whoever we are, whatever we’ve done or failed to do, whatever we believe or can’t.

We do not heal in isolation. When we reach out and connect with one another—when we tell the story, name the hurt, grant forgiveness, and renew or release the relationship—our suffering begins to transform.

Though wrong gratifies in the moment, good yields its gifts over a lifetime.

Like when you sit in front of a fire in winter – you are just there in front of the fire. You don’t have to be smart or anything. The fire warms you.

Differences are not intended to separate, to alienate. We are different precisely in order to realize our need for one another.

You show your humanity by how you see yourself not as apart from others but from your connection to others.

Language is very powerful. Language does not just describe reality. Language creates the reality it describes.

Out of the cacophony of random suffering and chaos that can mark human life, the life artist sees or creates a symphony of meaning and order.

A leader must be inspired by the people before a leader can inspire the people.

There is power in understanding the journey of others to help create your own.

All things fade and quickly turn to myth.

If you want to shine like the sun, first burn like the sun.

Don’t go through life trying to please everyone. If you try to keep every person happy, the one person that won’t be happy is you.

Worry is interest paid before it’s due.

The quality of our life depends on the quality of the seeds that lie deep in our consciousness.

Ugliness is better than beauty. It lasts longer and in the end, gravity will get us all.