“Socrates had it wrong; it is not the unexamined but finally the uncommitted life that is not worth living.”

“The world owes me a living'--that's passive. 'I owe the world and God a life'--that's active.”

“Spirituality means to me living the ordinary life extraordinarily well. As the old-church father said, 'The glory of God is a human being fully alive.”

“And if we are not yet one in live at least we are one in sin, which is no mean bond because it preludes the possibility of separation through judgment.”

“Love, and you are a success whether or not the world thinks so. The highest purpose of Christianity--which is primarily a way of life, not a system of belief--is to love one another.”

“In the Holy Land are two ancient bodies of water. Both are fed by the Jordan River. In one, fish play and roots find sustenance. In the other, there is no splash of fish, no sound of bird, no leaf around. The difference is not in the Jordan, for it empties into both, but in the Sea of Galilee: for every drop taken in one goes out. It gives and lives. The other gives nothing. And it is called the Dead Sea.”

“Christians have no business thinking that the good life consists mainly in not doing bad things. We have no business thinking that to do evil in this world you have to be a Bengal tiger, when, in fact, it is enough to be a tame tabby—a nice person but not a good one. In short, Pentecost makes it clear that nothing is so fatal to Christianity as indifference. ”