Courage is the most important of all the virtues, without it, you can practice no other.

The need for change bulldozed a road down the center of my mind.

I can see in the acorn the oak tree. I see the growth, the rebuilding, the restoring. I see that is the American psyche. There is so much we can draw understanding from. One of the lessons is the development of courage. Because without courage, you can't practice any of the other virtues consistently.

In a world so rife with vulgarity, with brutality and violence, love exists. I’m grateful to know that it exists.

At our best, we're all teachers

If I could give you one thought, it would be to lift someone up. Lift a stranger up--lift her up. I would ask you, mother and father, brother and sister, lovers, mother and daughter, father and son, lift someone. The very idea of lifting someone up will lift you, as well.

Light and shadow are opposite sides of the same coin. We can illuminate our paths or darken our way. It is a matter of choice.