The voice of conscience is so delicate that it is easy to stifle it; but it is also so clear that it is impossible to mistake it.

Many of our fears are tissue-paper thin, and a single courageous step would carry us clear through them.

Citizenship comes first today in our crowded world. . . . No man can enjoy the privileges of education and thereafter with a clear conscience break his contract with society. To respect that contract is to be mature, to strengthen it is to be a good citizen, to do more than your share under it is to be noble.

I sincerely believe that the word "relationships" is the key to the prospect of a decent world. It seems abundantly clear that every problem you will have - in your family, in your business, in our nation, or in this world - is essentially a matter of relationships, of interdependence.

Heat and animosity, contest and conflict may sharpen the wits, although they rarely do; they never strengthen the understanding, clear the perspicacity, guide the judgment, or improve the heart.

I wanted a perfect ending. Now I've learned, the hard way, that some poems don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next. Delicious ambiguity.

The only reason we don't open our hearts and minds to other people is that they trigger confusion in us that we don't feel brave enough or sane enough to deal with. To the degree that we look clearly and compassionately at ourselves, we feel confident and fearless about looking into someone else's eyes.

Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.

We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are.

There came a time when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.