“To live is to hold your child, your own flesh, your very blood, in your arms. To see her smile and wrap five tiny fingers around just one of yours. To live is to hold your wife close to you as you lie in bed and listen to her breathe -- to fall asleep, one against the other, fitted as if you were made for each other, and then awaked in the dawn when she turns to you and whispers your name. To live is to walk your land, knowing every tree and footpath and foxhole, and come home to the smell of a pot of stew, boiling over the fire. Home, wife, children. That is what it is to live.”

“I held my fingers out to the new day. I that virgin light -- bold strands of pink and orange breaking over the rim of the horizon -- I saw hope, and I wrapped my fingers around that light and brought it to my heart.”

“It is easy to say that you can adopt the whole human race as your children, but it is not the same as living in a home with a child and shaping all you do to help him learn to be happy and whole and good. Don't live your life without ever holding a child in your arms, on your lap, in your home, and feeling a child's arms around you and hearing his voice in your ear and seeing his smile, given to you because you put it into your heart.”

“And in that I never saw more truth...than to truly live, was to have something worth dying for.”

“Though you may be a wanderer, living out your days in exile, home is with you always, in blood-song and bone map, and in the echo of your mother’s voice as you tell her favorite tale to your children or the children who gather around you in the land of your exile. Home is your most constant companion.”

“FORBIDDENPain without learning is forbidden,waking up one day not knowing what to do,being afraid of your memories.It is forbidden not to smile at problems, not to fight for what you want,to abandon all because of fears,not to realize your dreams.It is forbidden not to show your love,to be ashamed of your tears,to not laugh with children,to make someone else pay your debts, bad humor.It is forbidden to forget your friends,to not try to understand why they live far away,to treat people as disposable,to call them only when you need them.It is forbidden to not be yourself in front of others,pretending around people you don’t care about,trying to be funny just so you'll be remembered,to forget about all the people who love you.It is forbidden not to do things for yourself,to be afraid of life and its commitments,to not to live each day as if it were your last.It forbidden to take someone out without having fun,to forget their eyes, their laugh,to not respect love even if it is past,just because your paths have stopped crossing,to forget your past and only live in the moment.It is forbidden not to try to understand people,to think that other’s lives are worth more than yours,to not know that each one of us has our own way and our own happiness.It is forbidden not create your own story,to have no time for people who need you,to not understand what life gives to you, and that it can also be taken away.It is forbidden not find your happiness,to not live your life with a positive attitude,to not think we can do better and be better,to feel that without you, this world would still be the same...”

“Spread love everywhere you go: first of all in your own home. Give love to your children, to your wife or husband, to a next door neighbor . . . Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God's kindness; kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile, kindness in your warm greeting.”