Things which don't shift and grow are dead things.

As long as the hummingbird had not abandoned the land, somewhere there were still flowers, and they could all go on.

I will tell you something about stories . . . They aren't just entertainment. Don't be fooled. They are all we have, you see, all we have to fight off illness and death.

But as long as you remember what you have seen, then nothing is gone. As long as you remember, it is part of this story we have together.

Because if you weren't born white, you were forced to see differences; or if you weren't born what they called normal, or if you got injured, then you were left to explore the world of the different.

But sometimes what we call 'memory' and what we call 'imagination' are not so easily distinguished.

the ancient people perceived the world and themselves within that world as part of an ancient continuous story composed of innumerable bundles of other stories.

What is it about us human beings that we can’t let go of lost things?

You don't have anything if you don't have the stories.

Writing cant change the world overnight, but writing may have an enormous effect over time, over the long haul.

Anybody can act violently - there is nothing to it; but not every person is able to destroy his enemy with words.

Much of your happiness and joy in life will come from your ability to get along with people –but more importantly your decision to walk in love every day.

I had to figure out how to bring the world into my work.

somewhere about the eighteenth century, history tacitly replaced religion as the school of public morals.

Man can see his reflection in water only when he bends down close to it, and the heart of man, too, must lean down to the heart of his fellow; then it will see itself within his heart.

A wonderful thing about true laughter is that it just destroys any kind of system of dividing people.

Memory is the power to revive again in our minds those ideas which after imprinting have disappeared, or have been laid aside out of sight.

I've lived my life the way I wanted to, whether scaling the mountains, partying long into the night or having fun playing soccer.

Unconditional good heart toward others is not even a possibility unless we attend to our own demons.

True kindness is rooted in a deep sense of abundance, out of which flows a sense that even as I give, it is being given back to me.