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The best that most of us can do is to take hold of the near edge of some great problem and act at cost to ourselves. — Colin Morris

I am not saying that suffering exists in order for God to reveal himself. I am only saying that where suffering exists and is consciously accepted, there divine love shines forth brightly. . . . I have often suspected that the most profound product of this world is tears. I don’t mean that to be morbid. Rather, I mean that tears express that vulnerability in which we can endure having our heart broken and go right on loving. — Cynthia Bourgeault

The modern reader searching for new techniques of spiritual “self-discovery” will largely be disappointed in the desert tradition of the apophatic way. Classical writers in this habitus could not be more indifferent to the modern search for “experiences of the sacred” that enhance self-realization. They would never, in the private, psychologizing way so familiar to contemporary spirituality, be anxious to add an encounter-with-God-through-contemplative-prayer to their collection of previous meditative accomplishments. As if one could then say, “Been there, done that!” to yet another personal success achieved through Zen attentiveness, transcendental meditation, or even centering prayer. — Belden Lane

Courage doesn't always roar. Sometime courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, "I will try again tomorrow." — MaryAnne Radmacher

With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion. — Steven Weinberg

A lover’s eyes will gaze an eagle blind. — Shakespeare

Our main business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand. — Thomas Carlyle

When Jeffrey Weiss of the Dallas Morning News wanted to find the origins of Kum-ba-ya, he talked with ethnomusicologist Thomas Miller, who said the song originated as a spiritual among the Gullah, an African-American people who live in the Sea Islands and the coastal regions of South Carolina and Georgia. It’s believed that a missionary couple transported the song to Angola, where it was rediscovered and brought back to the US in the ‘50s and ‘60s. — dallasnews.com

Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience. Our problem is that people all over the world have obeyed the dictates of leaders . . . and millions have been killed because of this obedience. . . . Our problem is that people are obedient all over the world in the face of poverty and starvation and stupidity, and war, and cruelty. Our problem is that people are obedient while the jails are full of petty thieves . . . (and) the grand thieves are running the country. That’s our problem. — Howard Zinn