"We are anxious in the face of our unchangeable past; we long to recreate segments of our private histories, but we are stuck with them."

"Forgiving does not erase the bitter past. A healed memory is not a deleted memory. Instead, forgiving what we cannot forget creates a new way to remember. We change the memory of our past into a hope for our future."

"God is not a doormat, nor should anyone else be a doormat."

"In a sinful world, no community can exist for long where nobody is ever held accountable: no teacher would grade a student's performance; no citizen would sit on a jury or call a failed leader to account."

"The friendship that can cease has never been real."

"There is some self-interest behind every friendship. There is no friendship without self-interests. This is a bitter truth."

"And as a child I was filled with passionate admiration for acts of civic courage I had seen performed by an elderly military doctor, who was a friend of my family."

"Let there be no purpose in friendship save the deepening of the spirit."