The dimension of depth in the consciousness of religion creates the tension between what is and what ought to be. It bends the bow from which every arrow of moral action flies.

Ultimately evil is done not so much by evil people, but by good people who do not know themselves and who do not probe deeply.

Man's capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man's inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary.

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

Every experience proves that the real problem of our existence lies in the fact that we ought to love one another, but do not.

There was a time when I had all the answers. My real growth began when I discovered that the questions to which I had the answers were not the important questions.

It's always wise to seek the truth in our opponents' error, and the error in our own truth.

Nationalism: One of the effective ways in which the modern man escapes life's ethical problems.

Forgiveness is the final form of love.

Religion is so frequently a source of confusion in political life, and so frequently dangerous to democracy, precisely because it introduces absolutes into the realm of relative values.

Humor is a prelude to faith and laughter is the beginning of prayer.

I began a lifelong affair with nostalgia, with only the vaguest notions of what I was nostalgic for.

When Shakespeare is charged with debts to his authors Landor replies "Yet he was more original than his originals. He breathed upon dead bodies and brought them into life."

Happiness that grand mistress of the ceremonies in the dance of life impels us through all its mazes and meanderings but leads none of us by the same route.

People need to get out and do some more exercise, especially children who are stuck inside with computers.

To the media, I have become a symbolic figure, critical of China. According to the government, I am a dangerous threat.

Characters do not change. Opinions alter, but characters are only developed.

The more people you love, the weaker you are.

The longer they were together the more doubtful seemed the nature of his regard, and sometimes for a few painful minutes she believed it to be no more than friendship

A woman who'd lost her first son consoled us with an angel gone ahead to pray for our family-- gone into that sky seeking oxygen, gone into autopsy

Whoever refuses to remember the inhumanity is prone to new risks of infection.