For centuries, the Muslims were able to co-exist perfectly well with Jews and Christians in the Middle East.

It's a great event to get outside and enjoy nature. I find it very exciting no matter how many times I see bald eagles.

Look into your own heart, discover what it is that gives you pain and then refuse, under any circumstance whatsoever, to inflict that pain on anybody else.

Jesus did not spend a great deal of time discoursing about the trinity or original sin or the incarnation, which have preoccupied later Christians. He went around doing good and being compassionate.

Each of the world religions has its own particular genius, its own special insight into the nature and requirements of compassion, and has something unique to teach us.

I like silence; I'm a gregarious loner and without the solitude, I lose my gregariousness.

Compassion is not an option. It's the key to our survival.

Religious people often prefer to be right rather than compassionate. Often, they don't want to give up their egotism. They want their religion to endorse their ego, their identity.

Religion isn’t about believing things. It's ethical alchemy. It’s about behaving in a way that changes you, that gives you intimations of holiness and sacredness.

I am not interested in the afterlife. Religion is supposed to be about losing your ego, not preserving it eternally in optimum conditions.

Surely it's better to love others, however messy and imperfect the involvement, than to allow one's capacity for love to harden.

I discovered that the real meaning of Christmas has nothing to do with you at all. It is about a very special gift. I want to you tell you about this gift.

You deserve to need me, not to have me.

People say they want shorter, but really want something that rivets them. They've got endless time for great.

I decided that my existence would be one of books and silence.

Death is the funeral of all our sorrows.

Love without knowledge is demonic.

The only causes of regret are laziness, outbursts of temper, hurting others, prejudice, jealousy, and envy.

Public opinion's always in advance of the law.

Even if someone is overcome with rage, it takes amazing arrogance to kill.

It takes a wise man to handle a lie, a fool had better remain honest.