quotable

The only thing about life that makes me hold out the hope that there might be a God behind all this, and a God worth worshipping at that, is the fact that often life just seems to have an amazing sense of humor behind all the nastiness. My rational brain thinks this is nothing but chance. My more artistic side wonders.
-Leo

quotable

The moment you declare a set of ideas to be immune from criticism, satire, derision, or contempt, freedom of thought becomes impossible. - Salman Rushdie

quotable

“What is grief?” I recently asked psychologist Steven Stosny, posing the obvious question I’d avoided for so long.

 “It’s an expression of love,” he told me. “When you grieve, you allow yourself to love again.”

 “How do you grieve?” I asked him.

 “You celebrate a person’s life by living your life fully.”

Asra Q. Nomani, in This is Danny Pearl's Last Story.

quotable

"One of the greatest gifts that the Museum has given to me is boredom. Because if you're really bored, then you find things to learn. My imagination is being engaged with all this amazing artwork around. And you can go anywhere in your head. You can be anywhere." - Emilia Fox-Lemock, "Worn Stories" (Netflix), Uniforms episode

quotable

"Decide that you want it more than you are afraid of it." ~ Bill Cosby

quotable

"The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page."
-St. Augustine, (November 13, 354 – August 28, 430), Bishop of Hippo Regius, was a philosopher and theologian. He was one of the most important figures in the development of Western Christianity and framed the concepts of original sin and just war.

quotable

“Time has a wonderful way of showing us what really matters.” - Margaret Peters

quotable

Dogs love us like we wish we could love others; they are faithful where we are feckless. For as long as they are able, they endure. - Annmarie Kelly-Harbaugh, in Hounded By Grief Over A Canine Companion

quotable

Intellect is a gift, but kindness is a choice. ― Carolyn Leighton

quotable

“The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it”. 

~ Henry David Thoreau

quotable

I believe this is of part of the poem "Was es ist" from the Austrian Poet Erich Fried.

quotable

For better, for worse but never for granted.

quotable

"I call upon you to draw from the depths of your being to prove that we are a human race. To prove that our love outweighs our need to hate. That our compassion is more compelling than our need to blame. That our sensitivity to those in need is stronger than our greed. That our ability to reason overcomes our fear. And that at the end of each of our lives, we can look back and be proud that we have treated others with the kindness, dignity and respect that every human being deserves." - Elizabeth Taylor, in her 1993 Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award honorary Oscar acceptance speech.

quotable

This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness. - The Dalai Lama , b. 1935, Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader [b. Tenzin Gyatso]

quotable

"Wine is sunlight held together by water."
-Galileo Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642) was an Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher who is closely associated with the scientific revolution.

quotable

"Needing approval is a cultural female disease, and often a sign of doing the wrong thing." Gloria Steinem, My Life on the Road

quotable

Art is I; science is we. -Claude Bernard (1813 - 1878)

quotable

As a parent to two children, this responsibility and joy resonates with me on many levels.

"Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
...
You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth."
"On Children"--Kahlil Gibran

quotable

"So much of the media is shouting matches and ideological food fights. It's very hard to have the kind of reasoned discussion of these big ethical questions without creating opportunities to do that." -- Michael Sandel, Harvard professor and rock-star moralist

quotable

"None of us get out of life alive, so be gallant, be great, be gracious, and be grateful for the opportunities you have. We don't know where we might end up, or when we might end up."
- Jake Bailey, 18-year-old student from Christchurch, New Zealand to his graduating class, after being diagnosed with Burkitt lymphoma and given 3 weeks to live.

Cancer-fighting student defies doctors to deliver emotional end of year speech 

BY JACOB GILLARD 

An 18-year-old student from Christchurch, New Zealand, has defied all odds to send off his school year, delivering a speech to roaring applause at his high school after being diagnosed with cancer. 

Jake Bailey, who had been given three weeks to live by doctors if he did not get treatment, took the stage at Christchurch Boys High School's Prize Giving ceremony in a wheelchair to celebrate the end of his high school career, after being released from hospital to take part in the event. 

In late October, the teen was diagnosed with Burkitt lymphoma, according to New Zealand Herald, an aggressive cancer which can kill if left untreated. "They said, if you don't get any treatment within the next three weeks you're going to die. Then they told me I wouldn't be here tonight to deliver this speech," Bailey said. 

Reminiscing on the final year of high school — one of the most important times in any teenager's life — Bailey focused on commemorating his year's history, achievements and thanked his friends for all their support. He remained resolute throughout the speech, telling the hall the speech "isn't about what's to come, [but] it's about what an amazing year it's been." 

"None of us get out of life alive, so be gallant, be great, be gracious, and be grateful for the opportunities you have," Bailey said. "We don't know where we might end up, or when we might end up." 

After the emotional speech finished, Bailey's cohort banded together to perform the haka for him. "I wish you the very best in your journey, and thank you for being a part of mine," Bailey said, as he finished off his address.