You have to say I am forgiven again and again until it becomes the story you believe about yourself.

You will learn a lot about yourself if you stretch in the direction of goodness, of bigness, of kindness, of forgiveness, of emotional bravery. Be a warrior for love.

What if I was never redeemed? What if I already was?

Don't surrender all your joy for an idea you used to have about yourself that isn't true anymore.

Whatever happens to you belongs to you. Make it yours. Feed it to yourself even if it feels impossible to swallow. Let it nurture you, because it will.

The story of human intimacy is one of constantly allowing ourselves to see those we love most deeply in a new, more fractured light. Look hard. Risk that.

That my complicated life could be made so simple was astounding.

Real love moves freely in both directions. Don't waste your time on anything else.

Be about ten times more magnanimous than you believe yourself capable of. Your life will be a hundred times better for it.

Love is our essential nutrient. Without it, life has little meaning. It's the best thing we have to give and the most valuable thing we receive. It's worthy of all the hullabaloo.

Self-pity is a dead-end road. You make the choice to drive down it. It's up to you to decide to stay parked there or to turn around and drive out.

It’s true that no one ever said life would be easy, but it is also true that no one ever said you had to go through it alone.

If you're going to lead people, you've got to have somewhere to go.

Just like sunshine affects others, when the life of Jesus invades your life, you become a loving person. The effect on others is amazing.

Covetous men need money least, yet they most affect it; but prodigals, who need it most have the least regard for it.

I can say for the first time that I am not afraid, and while this is a feeling that can undoubtedly change with time, I feel cradled by this universe and the immense love that comes from it.

Indeed we do not really live unless we have friends surrounding us like a firm wall against the winds of the world.

I wish I could write more make-believe. It's a lot easier to write about hard times and when things are going wrong. But I've never been a private person.

I cried today. I wasn't sad. You showed me beauty that I had only seen in books and dreams. I now see it in you.

President George] Bush talked to us like we were a bunch of morons and we ate it up. Can you imagine, the Pledge of Allegiance, read my lips-can you imagine such crap in this day and age?

When I am the candidate, I run the campaign.