In terms of soul work, we dare not get rid of the pain before we have learned what it has to teach us.

The morning glories and the sunflowers turn naturally toward the light, but we have to be taught, it seems.

All great spirituality is about what we do with our pain. If we do not transform our pain, we will transmit it to those around us.

We do not think ourselves into new ways of living, we live ourselves into new ways of thinking.

The journey to happiness involves finding the courage to go down into ourselves and take responsibility for what's there: all of it.

Religion is one of the safest places to hide from God.

The path of descent is the path of transformation. Darkness, failure, relapse, death, and woundedness are our primary teachers, rather than ideas or doctrines.

God is always bigger than the boxes we build for God, so we should not waste too much time protecting the boxes.

Maturity is the ability to joyfully live in an imperfect world.

There is nothing to prove and nothing to protect. I am who I am and it's enough.

You come to God not by being strong, but by being weak; not by being right, but through your mistakes.

The trouble with opportunity is that it always comes disguised as hard work.

What is laid down, ordered, factual is never enough to embrace the whole truth: life always spills over the rim of every cup.

There's a rebel lying deep in my soul.

They are bringing drugs. They are bringing crime. They are rapists. We need to build a wall.

I have some other novels I want to write. I have a lot of short stories - I love the short story.

When the fire goes out, you'll start feeling the cold. You'll wake up whether you want to or not.

The hallmark of our age is the tension between aspirations and sluggish institutions.

As a little boy of eleven I entered the Cadet Corps. I was not particularly eager to become a Cadet, but my father wished it. So my wishes were not consulted.

Trotsky found out about him - Leon Trotsky - because A.J.[Muste] worked. He was an activist. And he organized the first sit-in strike in Toledo in a factory. And Trotsky was very impressed with that.

Now is the time to unite the soul and the world. Now is the time to see the sunlight dancing as one with the shadows.