Solitude does not necessarily mean living apart from others; rather, it means never living apart from one's self. It is not about the absence of other people -- it is about being fully present to ourselves, whether or not we are with others. Community does not necessarily mean living face-to-face with others; rather, it means never losing the awareness that we are connected to each other. It is not about the presence of other people -- it is about being fully open to the reality of relationship, whether or not we are alone.

Violence is what happens when we don't know what else to do with our suffering.

Whoever our students may be, whatever the subject we teach, ultimately we teach who we are.

Before you tell your life what you intend to do with it, listen for what it intends to do with you.

I will always have fears, but I need not be my fears, for I have other places within myself from which to speak and act.

I believe that movements start when individuals who feel very isolated and very alone in the midst of an alien culture, come in touch with something life-giving in the midst of a death-dealing situation. They make one of the most basic decisions a human being can make, which I have come to call the decision to live "divided no more," the decision to no longer act differently on the outside than one knows one's truth to be on the inside

A scholar is committed to building on knowledge that others have gathered, correcting it, confirming it, enlarging it.