Nothing beats reason for keeping tigers away. But be excessively reasonable and you risk throwing out the universe with the bathwater.

A realization that the founding principle of existence is what we call love, which works itself out sometimes not clearly, not cleanly, not immediately, nonetheless ineluctably.

My ears were full. Nothing more, not one more sound, could push into them and be registered.

It was as unbelievable as the moon catching fire.

I was giving up. I would have given up - if a voice hadn't made itself heard in my heart. The voice said "I will not die. I refuse it. I will make it through this nightmare. I will beat the odds, as great as they are. I have survived so far, miraculously. Now I will turn miracle into routine. The amazing will be seen everyday. I will put in all the hard work necessary. Yes, so long as God is with me, I will not die. Amen.

If you are pitched into misery, remember that your days on this earth are counted and you might as well make the best of those you have left.

We commonly say in the trade that the most dangerous animal in a zoo is Man.