At the moment of death I hope to be surprised.

The myth of unending consumption has taken the place of the belief in life everlasting.

We can only live changes: we cannot think our way to humanity. Every one of us, every group, must become the model of that which we desire to create.

We must rediscover the distinction between hope and expectation.

I believe that if something like a political life is to remain for us in this world of technology, then it begins with friendship. Therefore my task is to cultivate disciplined, self-denying, careful, tasteful friendships.

It takes more time and effort and delicacy to learn the silence of a people than to learn its sounds. Some people have a special gift for this. Perhaps this explains why some missionaries, notwithstanding their efforts, never come to speak properly, to communicate delicately through silences. Although they "speak with the accent of natives" they remain forever thousands of miles away. The learning of the grammar of silence is an art much more difficult to learn than the grammar of sounds.

School prepares for the alienating institutionalization of life by teaching the need to be taught.