"Pay attention to the beauty surrounding you."

"Some people seem to understand this - that life and change take time - but I am not one of those people."

"My coming to faith did not start with a leap but rather a series of staggers from what seemed like one safe place to another. Like lily pads, round and green, these places summoned and then held me up while I grew. Each prepared me for the next leaf on which I would land, and in this way I moved across the swamp of doubt and fear."

"The earth is rocky and full of roots it's clay, and it seems doomed and polluted, but you dig little holes for the ugly shriveled bulbs, throw in a handful of poppy seeds, and cover it all over, and you know you'll never see it again - it's death and clay and shrivel, and your hands are nicked from the rocks, your nails black with soil."

"Wisdom principle 58 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 36."

"If you're black in America, race is a factor in your life. Start with that assumption."

"So long as the memory of certain beloved friends lives in my heart, I shall say that life is good."

"The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes."