Courage is the measure of our heartfelt participation with life, with another, with a community, a work, a future.

I believe that human beings are desperate, always, to belong to something larger than themselves.

There is a lovely root to the word humiliation - from the latin word humus, meaning soil or ground. When we are humiliated, we are in effect returning to the ground of our being.

The price of our vitality is the sum of all our fears

Being a good parent will necessarily break our hearts as we watch a child grow and eventually choose their own way, even through many of the same heartbreaks we have traversed.

Poetry is often the art of overhearing yourself say things you didn't know you knew. It is a learned skill to force yourself to articulate your life, your present world or your possibilities for the future.

The courageous conversation is the one you don't want to have.