The true measure of our character is how we treat the poor, the disfavored, the accused, the incarcerated, and the condemned.

You ultimately judge the civility of a society not by how it treats the rich, the powerful, the protected and the highly esteemed, but by how it treats the poor, the disfavored and the disadvantaged.

We have a system of justice in [the US] that treats you much better if you're rich and guilty than if you're poor and innocent. Wealth, not culpability, shapes outcomes.

You don’t change the world with the ideas in your mind, but with the conviction in your heart.

Somebody has to stand when other people are sitting. Somebody has to speak when other people are quiet.

The opposite of poverty is not wealth. I don't believe that. I actually think, in too many places, the opposite of poverty is justice.

Each of us is more than the worst thing we've ever done.

We live in a country that talks about being the home of the brave and the land of the free, and we have the highest incarceration rate in the world.

I don't think there's been a time in American history with more innocent people in prison.

Always do the right thing even when the right thing is the hard thing

We are all broken by something. We have all hurt someone and have been hurt. We all share the condition of brokenness even if our brokenness is not equivalent.

[Nicodemus] 'Magistra DeVega, can I ask for your help?'[DeVega] 'You can ask, ' she said with her usual calmness, 'but the clerics haven't developed a cure for death by idiotic leadership.

Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks.

Love as distinct from "being in love" is not merely a feeling. It is a deep unity, maintained by the will and deliberately strengthened by habit.

What interests me is being alive and being with friends that I care about and being as creative as I can given circumstance.

For where the instrument of intelligence is added to brute power and evil will, mankind is powerless in its own defense.

First we only want to be seen, but once we’re seen, that’s not enough anymore. After that, we want to be remembered.

You must not blame me if I do talk to the clouds.

Keep behind, and you shall be put in front; keep out, and you shall be kept in.

In time of sickness the soul collects itself anew.

Do well and you will have no need for ancestors.