“If we were not so single-mindedabout keeping our lives movingand for once could do nothing,perhaps a huge silencemight interrupt this sadnessof never understanding ourselvesand of threatening ourselves with deathPerhaps the world can teach usas when everything seems deadbut later proves to be alive.”

“Now we will count to twelveand we will all keep still.For once on the face of the earthlet's not speak in any language,let's stop for one second,and not move our arms so much.It would be an exotic momentwithout rush, without engines,we would all be togetherin a sudden strangeness.Fishermen in the cold seawould not harm whalesand the man gathering saltwould look at his hurt hands.Those who prepare green wars,wars with gas, wars with fire,victory with no survivors,would put on clean clothesand walk about with their brothersin the shade, doing nothing.What I want should not be confusedwith total inactivity.Life is what it is about;I want no truck with death.If we were not so single-mindedabout keeping our lives moving,and for once could do nothing,perhaps a huge silencemight interrupt this sadnessof never understanding ourselvesand of threatening ourselves with death.Perhaps the earth can teach usas when everything seems deadand later proves to be alive.Now I'll count up to twelveand you keep quiet and I will go.”

“There is nothing in the world which an artist cannot recreate into something poetic, ennobling. And why do we read these things? They are not facts, they do not improve our business skills, our techniques in manufacturing goods, the management of a home. That is what most of you will be doing anyway. We read these because they teach us about people, we can see ourselves in them, in their problems. And by seeing ourselves in them, we clarify ourselves, we explain ourselves to ourselves, so we can live with ourselves…”

“All of us have theories about the world and about ourselves. We will go to great lengths to prove ourselves right because it keeps the world in our head coherent and understandable.”

“There are moments when troubles enter our lives and we can do nothing to avoid them.But they are there for a reason. Only when we have overcome them will we understand why they were there.”

“When we live out of pride, we are left to tirelessly protect the single seed of life, but when we live with the posture of humility and die to ourselves, we allow God to turn our one life into an abundant harvest that reaches so far beyond ourselves we will scarcely believe what God can do with a single life that chooses to die in the soil of His hands.”