“He looked down at the glass again. ‘I care that these things happen, that we poison ourselves and our progeny, that we knowingly destroy our future, but I do not believe that there is anything - and I repeat, anything - that can be done to prevent it. We are a nation of egoists. It is our glory, but it will be our destruction, for none of us can be made to concern ourselves about something as abstract as “the common good”. The best of us can rise to feeling concern for our families, but as a nation we are incapable of more.’‘I refuse to believe that.’ Brunetti said.‘Your refusal to believe it,’ the Count said with a smile that was almost tender, ‘makes it no less true, Guido.”

“Oh, so seldom does fate cast our enemy into our hands, to do with as we will”

“I believe that if, at the end of it all, according to our abilities, we have done something to make others a little happier, and something to make ourselves a little happier, that is about the best we can do. To make others less happy is a crime. To make ourselves unhappy is where all crime starts. We must try to contribute joy to the world. That is true no matter what our problems, our health, our circumstances. We must try.”

“I believe that most of us, students and artists alike, ought to concern ourselves less with what we think is the right way to draw and more with letting our feelings flow through our hand. In this way, we stretch our dynamic nature. Our larger goal should be to draw in a way that expresses our vision.”

“If we allow ourselves to cast aside the unspeakable; refusing to believe in our own capacity for hate, deceit, and destruction, then is there hope for our properity?”

“I believe that one of Satan’s biggest lies is telling us that it’s too late. We’ve sinned beyond redemption. The mistakes in our past have ruined our future. Too many bad things have happened to us. Wishing and hoping and living in regret doesn’t threaten him because we are still in Moab. It’s when we make the decision to leave the past behind, repent, and go back home to Bethlehem that he gets to trembling.”

“Sometimes, we do not believe in ourselves until someone else reveals that, deep inside of us, something is valuable, worth listening to, worthy of our trust, sacred to our touch. Once we believe in ourselves we can risk curiosity, wonder, love, or any other experience that reveals our human spirit.”