Dwight Eisenhower was candid in private, but he was circumspect in public.

If Heaven is willing to sing to us, it is little to ask that we be ready to listen.

Death will never be pretty - its sights and smells too close and crude. And it will never come under our control: it gallops where we tiptoe, rips up our routines, burns our very breath with its heat and sting.

Illusions are the truths we live by until we know better.

The challenge was that it was harder to be subtle than strident.

Studies show that the more often families eat together, the less likely kids are to smoke, drink, do drugs, get depressed, develop eating disorders and consider suicide, and the more likely they are to do well in school, delay having sex, eat their vegetables, learn big words and know which fork to use.

On a normal day, we value heroism because it is uncommon. On Sept. 11, we valued heroism because it was everywhere.