Nothing in the Bible encourages us to give sex the exalted status it has in our culture, as if finding our purpose, our identity, and our fulfillment all rest with what we can or cannot do with our private parts.
To us, it is incomprehensible that millions of Christian men killed and tortured each other because Napoleon was ambitious or Alexander was firm, or because England's policy was astute or the Duke of Oldenburg was wronged. We cannot grasp what connec...
Every great accomplishment has its share of struggle, adversity and pain. Great achievement cannot exist without them. To reap the rewards of success in our marriages, in the lives of our children, and in our professional careers we must be prepared ...
What gives life meaning is a form of rebellion, rebellion against reason, an insistence on believing passionately what we cannot believe rationally. The meaning of life is to be found in passion—romantic passion, religious passion, passion for work...
I mean to say, we all sprang from humble origins. Goodness gracious, who would have thought that a species of monkey would take over the kingdom of the world. … I cannot help but feel that the monkey was not a good choice. Surely one of the cat fam...
Fantasy writing must be grounded in both truth and life experience if it is to work. It can be as inventive and creative as the writer can make it, a whirlwind of images and plot twists, but it cannot be built on a foundation of air. The world must b...
To recognize our bias toward error should teach us modesty and reflection, and to forgive it should help us avoid the inhumanity of thinking we ourselves are not as fallible as those who, in any instance, seem most at fault. Science can give us knowl...
Our approach to existential risks cannot be one of trial-and-error. There is no opportunity to learn from errors. The reactive approach — see what happens, limit damages, and learn from experience — is unworkable. Rather, we must take a proactive...
About your easy heads my prayers I said with syllables of clay. What gift, I asked, shall I bring now Before I weep and walk away? Take, they replied, the oak and laurel. Take our fortune of tears and live Like a spendthrift lover. All we ask Is the ...
Don't think that what you say fleetingly to one man be harmless. Your fleeting words can travel so fast and so lightly that soon enough they will end up hitting someone so hard that they cannot get up again! It takes someone tough to receive so many ...
Developing spiritual strength doesn’t come from leaning back; it comes from pressing forward, constantly seeking more light and knowledge from heaven.” In my undergraduate days, I memorized this saying: ‘On the plains of hesitation are bleached...
The angry men know that this golden age (of fossil fuels) has gone; but they cannot find the words for the constraints they hate. Clutching their copies of Atlas Shrugged, they flail around, accusing those who would impede them of communism, fascism,...
Edward D. Wood, Jr.: Mr. Reynolds. Ed Reynolds: Yes. Edward D. Wood, Jr.: We are going to finish this picture just the way I want it... because you cannot compromise an artist's vision. Reverend Lemon: But it's OUR money. Edward D. Wood, Jr.: And you...
Voldemort: Harry Potter. We meet again. Harry: Voldemort? Voldemort: Yes. You see what I've become? See what I must do to survive? Live off another, a mere parasite! Unicorn blood can sustain me, but it cannot give me a body of my own. But there is s...
[Aragorn and Gimli are looking at the Uruk-hai, but are separated from them by a gap] Gimli: Oh come on, we can take 'em. Aragorn: It's a long way. Gimli: Toss me. Aragorn: What? Gimli: I cannot jump the distance, you'll have to toss me. Gimli: [paus...
Robert Marley: You will be haunted by three spirits. Ebenezer Scrooge: Haunted? I've already had enough of that. Jacob Marley: Without these visits, you cannot hope to avoid the path we tread. Robert Marley: Expect the first ghost tonight, when the b...
Judah Ben-Hur: If I cannot persuade them, that does not mean I will help you... *murder* them. Besides, you must understand this, Messala. I believe in the past of my people, *and* in their future. Messala: Future? You are a conquered people! Judah B...
We have one crystal clear reason apart from the blessed happiness of this way of life. It is this: prayer is the core of our day. Take prayer out, and the day would collapse, would be pithless, a straw blown in the wind. But how can you pray--really ...
And although this (marital love) cannot be portrayed artistically, then let your consolation be, as it is mine, that we are not to read about or listen to or look at what is highest and the most beautiful in life, but are, if you please, to live it. ...
My good fortune is not that I've recovered from mental illness. I have not, nor will I ever. My good fortune lies in having found my life.
He who has mastered the true nature of life does not labor over what life cannot do. He who has mastered the true nature of fate does not labor over what knowledge cannot change.
