Hatred, which could destroy so much, never failed to destroy the man who hated, and this was an immutable law.

If I am not what you say I am, then you are not who you think you are.

You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read.

Europe has what we [Americans] do not have yet, a sense of the mysterious and inexorable limits of life, a sense, in a word, of tragedy. And we have what they sorely need: a sense of life's possibilities.

The universe, which is not merely the stars and the moon and the planets, flowers, grass and trees, but other people, has evolved no terms for your existence, has made no room for you, and if love will not swing wide the gates, no other power will or can. And if one despairs-- as who has not?-- of human love, God's love alone is left.

I really do believe in the New Jerusalem. I really do believe that we can all become better than we are. I know we can. But the price is enormous and people are not yet willing to pay it.

You've got to tell the world how to treat you. If the world tells you how you are going to be treated, you are in trouble.