“There is no real excellence in all this world which can be separated from right living.”

“Wisdom is knowing what to do next; Skill is knowing how to do it, and Virtue is doing it.”

“There is a secret place. A radiant sanctuary. As real as your own kitchen. More real than that. Constructed of the purest elements. Overflowing with the ten thousand beautiful things. Worlds within worlds. Forests, rivers. Velvet coverlets thrown over featherbeds, fountains bubbling beneath a canopy of stars. Bountiful forests, universal libraries. A wine cellar offering an intoxi cation so sweet you will never be sober again. A clarity so complete you will never again forget. This magnificent refuge is inside you. Enter. Shatter the darkness that shrouds the doorway… Believe the incredible truth that the Beloved has chosen for his dwelling place the core of your own being because that is the single most beautiful place in all of creation.”

“Rocky, if I’ve learned anything from my train wreck of a marriage, it’s that no one can take care of me better than I can.”

“Most dramatically, the Bridge served as an agonizing or exhilarating psychological symbol for the more than 1.2 million servicemen and women who sailed beneath it during World War II and for those soldiers and Marines who saw it from the air as their chartered World Airways or Flying Tiger plane took off from the Oakland Airport, banked westward across both bridges, and headed to Vietnam. Seen upon departure, whether from the channel or the air, the Golden Gate Bridge expressed the life left behind and the fearsome dangers to come. Seen upon return, the Bridge suggested safe harbor, recovery, the joy of life in years that now would be theirs.”

“Nothin'. Nothin' at all. But there are a lot of folk out there who can't just be themselves right away. Some people have a lot of scars they carry around and it takes a while for them to be willing to make themselves vulnerable again. You," she paused, giving weight to her next words, "don't give those people a chance.”

“Life is a dream from which we all must wake before we can dream again.”