“We all know we are unique individuals, but we tend to see others as representatives of groups.”

“The biggest mistake is believing there is one right way to listen, to talk, to have a conversation — or a relationship.”

“Smashing heads does not open minds.”

“A perfectly tuned conversation is a vision of sanity--a ratification of one's way of being human and one's way in the world.”

“We are all inexorably wound together as individuals, as families, as communities, and as a society. We must take care to value, accommodate, and, at times, assist the variety and diversity, each unique facet, in the noble work - the blessed art - of family.”

“It's true--I can see it now--we are made of where we've come from, molded by landscape, weather, harbors, hunger, and war, as much as by individual ancestors. The experience of the place--its struggles, strife, and horrors--accrues, even if we haven't personally experienced it. We are, still, its inevitable consequence.”

“But it's also true that the person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing. All we know about the future is that it will be different. But perhaps what we fear is that it will be the same. So we must celebrate the changes.”