It is perhaps when our lives are at their most problematic that we are likely to be most receptive to beautiful things.

It is in books, poems, paintings which often give us the confidence to take seriously feelings in ourselves that we might otherwise never have thought to acknowledge.

What we seek, at the deepest level, is inwardly to resemble, rather than physically to possess, the objects and places that touch us through their beauty.

It is in dialogue with pain that many beautiful things acquire their value.

Sometime excess pain that we experience may be best reason for birth of our talent and sometime our excess talent may be best reason for our pain. Think about it.

Both my brothers became physicians and I, of course, wandered into a business where the undisciplined are welcome.

Your life is going to be determined by your prayer life.

And the truth is, those who are terrorists only have to succeed once, and those of us who are trying to build an inclusive society have to succeed every time.

a certain red cardinal sounded like a little bottle being filled up, up, up with some clear liquid.

Man seems to be capable of great virtues but not of small virtues; capable of defying his torturer but not of keeping his temper.

Our village life would stagnate if it were not for the unexplored forests and meadows which surround it.

Stay curious, keep learning and keep growing. And always strive to be more interested than interesting.

I don't go out to clubs. You'll never see me on a table at a bar, jumping up and down.

The challenge is about taking things that are infinitely complex and making them simpler and more understandable.