Jesus did not spend a great deal of time discoursing about the trinity or original sin or the incarnation, which have preoccupied later Christians. He went around doing good and being compassionate.

It's a great event to get outside and enjoy nature. I find it very exciting no matter how many times I see bald eagles.

Look into your own heart, discover what it is that gives you pain and then refuse, under any circumstance whatsoever, to inflict that pain on anybody else.

Each of the world religions has its own particular genius, its own special insight into the nature and requirements of compassion, and has something unique to teach us.

I like silence; I'm a gregarious loner and without the solitude, I lose my gregariousness.

Compassion is not an option. It's the key to our survival.

Religious people often prefer to be right rather than compassionate. Often, they don't want to give up their egotism. They want their religion to endorse their ego, their identity.

Religion isn’t about believing things. It's ethical alchemy. It’s about behaving in a way that changes you, that gives you intimations of holiness and sacredness.

I am not interested in the afterlife. Religion is supposed to be about losing your ego, not preserving it eternally in optimum conditions.

Surely it's better to love others, however messy and imperfect the involvement, than to allow one's capacity for love to harden.

The hajj is one of the five essential practices of Islam; when they make the pilgrimage to Mecca, Muslims ritually act out the central principles of their faith.

Every day I beat my own previous record for the number of consecutive days I've stayed alive.

There is only "now". The better we make now the better our past and future "nows" will be.

Here you can easily understand the futility of ambitions and achievements, futility of success and failures, futility of wealth and possessions.

Oh God! that bread should be so dear And flesh and blood so cheap!

Plots come to me at such odd moments, when I am walking along the street, or examining a hat shop… suddenly a splendid idea comes into my head.

No child wants to fail. Everyone wants to succeed.

I was fairly poor but most of my money went for wine and classical music. I loved to mix the two together.

I really wanted to write an adventure story, a murder-mystery that was set during the gold-rush years in New Zealand.

Cornering perfectly is like bringing a woman to climax.

Because nearly all digital libraries are tied to bricks-and-mortar institutions, the funding base tends to be quite localized.