One of the few blessings of living in an age of anxiety is that we are forced to become aware of ourselves.

A myth is a way of making sense in a senseless world. Myths are narrative patterns that give significance to our existence.

The acorn becomes an oak by means of automatic growth; no commitment is necessary. The kitten similarly becomes a cat on the basis of instinct. Nature and being are identical in creatures like them. But a man or woman becomes fully human only by his or her choices and his or her commitment to them. People attain worth and dignity by the multitude of decisions they make from day by day. These decisions require courage.

The creative act arises out of the struggle of human beings with and against that which limits them.

Courage is not the absence of despair; it is, rather, the capacity to move ahead in spite of despair.

Good art wounds as well as delights. It must, because our defenses against the truth are wound so tightly around us. But as art chips away at our defenses, it also opens us to healing potentialities that transcend intellectual games and ego-preserving strategies.

One must have at least a readiness to love the other person, broadly speaking, if one is to be able to understand him.