Both my parents loved words. That was the big deal in our house.

To know a man's library is, in some measure, to know a man's mind.

A book is more than the sum of its materials. It is an artifact of the human mind and hand.

There are always a few who stand up in times of communal madness and have the courage to say that what unites us is greater than what divides us.

She was like a butterfly, full of color and vibrancy when she chose to open her wings, yet hardly visible when she closed them.

I'm a praying atheist. When I hear an ambulance siren, I ask for a blessing for those people in trouble, knowing that no one's listening. I think it's just a habit of mindfulness.

The brave man, the real hero, quakes with terror, sweats, feels his very bowels betray him, and in spite of this moves forward to do the act he dreads.

It is human nature to imagine, to put yourself in another's shoes. The past may be another country. But the only passport required is empathy.

Book burnings. Always the forerunners. Heralds of the stake, the ovens, the mass graves.

Who is the brave man--he who feels no fear? If so, then bravery is but a polite term for a mind devoid of rationality and imagination.

You go on. You set one foot in front of the other, and if a thin voice cries out, somewhere behind you, you pretend not to hear, and keep going.

Life is like a black hole. You don't know what lies ahead. You can't ever turn back. All you can do is move forward.

Work gives us access and opportunities.

The Madiba song may have ended, but its melody lingers on.

Jimi Hendrix was the most exciting guitarist I've ever heard.

Son, it ain't the water cooler that's striking you out.

Not every age allows its sons to reap the results which remain great for all time, and . . . not every century is fitted to make the men who live in it distinguished and happy.

Five to six thousand people die every year waiting for organs, but nobody cares.

History is absolutely my thing.

In this sequestered nook how sweet To sit upon my orchard seat And birds and flowers once more to greet. . . .