Be careful what you give children, for sooner or later you are sure to get it back.

Americans who read and think are patriots of the first order. The kind who know enough to roll their eyes whenever anyone tries to claim sole custody of the flag and weild it as a blunt instrument. There are as many ways to love America as there are Americans, and our country needs us all.

People ask without wanting to know.

Wars and elections are both too big and too small to matter in the long run. The daily work - that goes on, it adds up.

Our childhood had passed over into history overnight. The transition was unnoticed by anyone but ourselves.

Tomorrow these villagers would carry their secret icons into the church without any priest and light the candles themselves, moving together in single-minded grace. Like the school of the fish, so driven to righteousness they could flout the law, declare the safety of their souls, then go home and destroy the evidence.

Empathy is really the opposite of spiritual meanness. It's the capacity to understand that every war is both won and lost. And that someone else's pain is as meaningful as your own.