We have demythologized prematurely, that we've actually lost the vocabulary for discussing reality at its largest scales. The idea that myth is the opposite of knowledge, or the opposite of truth, is simply to disallow it. It is like saying poetry is the opposite of truth.

When we accept dismissive judgments of our community we stop having generous hope for it. We cease to be capable of serving its best interests.

There are a thousand thousand reasons to live this life, everyone of them sufficient

There are several sources for my appreciation of pastors and the way they are described in this book. One of them is reading history and realizing that they had a profound creative impact on the Middle West and the settlement of the Middle West.

You build your mind, so make it into something you want to live with.

Because, once alone, it is impossible to believe that one could ever have been otherwise. Loneliness is an absolute discovery.

Cultures cherish artists because they are people who can say, Look at that.