It is only with the eyes open that a corporeal form returns, and assembles itself firmly around the hard core of sight.
The outward man is the swinging door; the inner man is the still hinge.
If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough.
The most important hour is always the present. The most significant person is precisely the one sitting across from you right now. The most necessary work is always love.
What we plant in the soil of contemplation, we shall reap in the harvest of action.
What good is it to me that Mary gave birth to the son of God fourteen hundred years ago, and I do not also give birth to the Son of God in my time and in my culture? We are all meant to be mothers of God. God is always needing to be born.
And suddenly you know: It's time to start something new and trust the magic of beginnings.
You don't fight to protect warships or old men. Like the book says, you fight to save your civilization. And so often it seems that civilization is composed mainly of the things women and children want.
Whereas moral courage is the righting of wrongs, creative courage, in contrast, is the discovering of new forms, new symbols, new patterns on which a new society can be built.
What a polite game tennis is. The chief word in it seems to be "sorry" and admiration of each other's play crosses the net as frequently as the ball.
I remember riding across the Brooklyn Bridge about 12 times because they wanted me to keep up with the helicopter, and I said, "Can you have the helicopter keep up with me, my calves are burning!"