It seems to me that no matter what religion you subscribe to, acts of kindness are the stepping-stones to making the world a better place--because we become better people in it.

words are like nets - we hope they'll cover what we mean, but we know they can't possibly hold that much joy, or grief, or wonder.

And I remembered something else that makes us human: faith, the only weapon in our arsenal to battle doubt.

When you're different, sometimes you don't see the millions of people who accept you for what you are. All you notice is the person who doesn't.

You live and let live, eventually that becomes enough.

Would you give up your vengeance against someone you hate if it meant saving someone you love? Would you want your dreams to come true if it meant granting your enemy's dying wish?

You didn't get past something like that, you go through it -- and for that reason alone, I understood more about her than she ever would have guessed.

I knew what it was like to lose someone you loved. You didn't get past something like that, you got through it.

Like the teens I worked with, I understood the need for miracles--they kept reality from paralyzing you

You’ll tell yourself anything you have to, to pretend that you’re still the one in control.

There are two objectionable types of believers: those who believe the incredible, and those who believe that 'belief' must be discarded and replaced by 'the scientific method'.

this process isn’t suitable for complex decisions that have nuance, and those who use it in such situations run the risk of being perceived as rubberstamping when the decision had already been made.

You have to look at a thing long enough for it to really show itself to you...

I suggest that there is a splendid way out of the difficulty of marriage, and that is my way - stay out.

Having a great deal of opportunity proves nothing. Opportunity without creative action is like a brand new Ferrari without an engine. You possess something valuable, but it won't get you anywhere.

I cut off my ears before i hear your advice and vice versa

Even I just listen to some bands on YouTube. I'll think, "Oh, I quite like that, I should buy it someday," but I don't get around to buying half the stuff I liked.

In fact, the whole of Japan is a pure invention. There is no such country, there are no such people.... The Japanese people are ... simply a mode of style, an exquisite fancy of art.

It is an endless procession of surprises. The expected rarely occurs and never in the expected manner.

Whatever excites the spirit of contradiction is capable of producing the last effects of heroism; which is only the highest pitch of obstinacy, in a good or bad cause, in wisdom or folly.