watching it rise

There is no greater gift to an insecure leader that quite matches a vague enemy who can be used to whip up fear and hatred among the population.
– Paul Rusesabagina

This is what the human story is, not the emperors and the generals and their wars, but the nameless actions of people who are never written down, the good they do for others passed on like a blessing, just doing for strangers what your mother did for you, or not doing what she always spoke against. And all that carries forward and makes us what we are.
– Kim Stanley Robinson in The Years of Rice and Salt

There comes a time when autumn asks,
“What have you been doing all summer?”
– unknown

In Africa, when an old man dies, it is like a library burning to the ground.
– Leopold Senghor

One day Mara, the Buddhist god of ignorance and evil, was traveling through the villages of India with his attendants. He saw a man doing walking meditation whose face was lit up in wonder. The man had just discovered something on the ground in front of him. Mara’s attendants asked what that was and Mara replied, “A piece of truth.” “Doesn’t this bother you when someone finds a piece of the truth, O evil one?” his attendants asked. “No,” Mara replied. “Right after this they usually make a belief out of it.”
– Christina Feldman and Jack Kornfield

Change your thoughts and you change your world.
– Norman Vincent Peale

I should be content
to look at a mountain
for what it is
and not as a comment
on my life.
– David Ignatow

It’s not the noise disturbing your meditation, it’s you who is disturbing the noise.
– Ajahn Chah

What we call normal life is the socially acceptable level of greed, hate, and delusion which is operating at the moment.– Rev. Master Eko

When Congress returns in September the Intelligence committees and leaders in both parties will need to complete work on the comprehensive reforms requested by Director McConnell, including the important issue of providing meaningful liability protection to those who are alleged to have assisted our Nation following the attacks of September 11, 2001.
– George W. Bush