Parker Palmer

“We are whiplashed between an arrogant overestimation of ourselves and a servile underestimation of ourselves.”

“By standing respectfully and faithfully at the borders of another’s solitude, we may mediate the love of God to a person who needs something deeper than any human being can give.”

“Way has never opened in front of me…but a lot of way has closed behind me, and that has had the same guiding effect.”

“You seem to look upon depression as the hand of an enemy trying to crush you…Do you think you could see it instead as the hand of a friend, pressing you down to the ground on which it is safe to stand?”

“A scholar is committed to building on knowledge that others have gathered, correcting it, confirming it, enlarging it. ”

“I want my inner truth to be the plumb line for the choices I make about my life - about the work that I do and how I do it, about the relationships I enter into and how I conduct them.”

“As a young man, I yearned for the day when, rooted in the experience that comes only with age, I could do my work fearlessly. But today, in my mid-sixties, I realize that I will feel fear from time to time for the rest of my life. I may never get rid of my fear. But . . . I can learn to walk into it and through it whenever it rises up . . . naming the inner force that triggers . . . fear . . . Naming our fears aloud . . . is the first step toward transcending them.”

“Our deepest calling is to grow into our own authentic self-hood, whether or not it conforms to some image of who we ought to be. As we do so, we will not only find the joy that every human being seeks--we will also find our path of authentic service in the world.”

“We need a coat with two pockets. In one pocket there is dust, and in the other pocket there is gold. We need a coat with two pockets to remind us who we are.”

“Humility is the only lens though which great things can be seen--and once we have seen them, humility is the only posture possible.”

“The winters will drive you crazy until you learn to get out into them.”

“Good teaching cannot be reduced to technique; good teaching comes from the identity and integrity of the teacher.”