02/17/09

Back during the early 1960s there was a United Nations television commercial, the audio portion of which went something like this: "Ignorance, fear, disease, hunger, suspicion, hatred, war." That was it, although I would have added, "greed" and "vengeance" to the list. All or any of these can be the catalyst that turns hierarchical thinking into hierarchical behavior. Amid all this, does tolerance have a chance? Only if we want it to. Only when we want it to. Tolerance, like any aspect of peace, is forever a work in progress, never completed, and, if we're as intelligent as we like to think we are, never abandoned. -Octavia Butler

01/30/09

I would rather have a mind opened by wonder than one closed by belief. -Gerry Spence

01/28/09

Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable. -Sidney J. Harris

01/27/09

It will do us little good to wire the world if we short-circuit our souls. There is not delete button for racism, poverty or sectarian violence. No keystroke can ever clear the air, save a river, preserve a forest. This transformational new technology must be an extension of our hearts as well as of our minds. The old rules still apply... -Tom Brokaw

01/23/09

The good we secure for ourselves is precarious and uncertain until it is secured for all of us and incorporated into our common life. -Jane Addams

01/22/09

We can often do more for others by trying to correct our own faults than by trying to correct theirs. -Francois Fenelon

01/21/09

Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. Because it's only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential. -Barack Obama

01/20/09

The peaceful transfer of authority is rare in history, yet common in our country. With a simple oath, we affirm old traditions and make new beginnings. -George W. Bush

01/16/09

Words, once they are printed, have a life of their own. -Carol Burnett

01/15/09

Invention requires an excited mind; execution, a calm one. -Johann Peter Eckermann