"One morning in a spring that seemed
forever dark and drear,
The sun was on the meadow
and a fragrance filled the air,
And those who had succumbed to thoughts
of sadness and despair
Were caught again, as usual,
completely unaware!"
"The lesson of Holy Saturday is to never give up hope -- or at least give it another day."
"There is no actual law that says you can't get locked into a daily routine that makes you happy."
"Whatever you're trying to prove, it's good occasionally to spend a day not trying to prove it."
"Nothing is so underrated as the courage and perseverance it takes to be a normal, everyday person."
"There are days when you feel that if you walked down the street in a clown costume, no one would recall seeing anyone in a clown costume."
"A best friend is someone who recognizes the tiny shrugs and faint smiles that constitute your cries for help."
"One of the things we are allowed to decide for ourselves is whether we wish to have miracles in our lives."
"We don't always get the miracle we pray for, but we always get the strength we pray for."
"You can wait for a miracle, but it is usually a better strategy to meet it halfway."
"One of life's sadder realizations, looking back over the years, is that you were the miracle you didn't believe in."
"What does hope get you? It gets you a hopeful life, and when you think about it, what more can you hope to have?"
On the one hand, 3000 books sold over ten years is not exactly best-seller territory. On the other hand, I won't deny the satisfaction I felt upon the sale of my 3000th book yesterday.
My book sales have never been a torrent. They are more a persistent trickle, one or two at a time, sometimes skipping a few days but seldom more than that. So while 3000 copies over ten years doesn't blow your socks off, it does amount to 5 or 6 copies a week, every week, for ten years -- and, that, let me tell you, can be quite an ongoing boost to one's self-esteem.
I am pleased, too, to know that my books have sold without promotion. I have never made a public appearance on behalf of my books, never a signing or a reading, never a celebrity endorsement, never a cent paid for advertising. All I've ever done is to offer my books on my blog and via my Twitter account. For the rest, it has been a case of folks noticing my quotes on the internet, Googling my name and finding their way to my Amazon book pages.
And so I thank all you book buyers out there for your support over these ten years. You are indeed patrons of the arts and, as supporters of the hard-copy printed word, a bit of a dying breed, I'm afraid. I thank you and cherish you. You have made very happy a fellow named Bob in Connecticut.
"You can plan a picnic and hope for a sunny day, but sometimes a sunny day just turns up and demands your immediate attention."
"You cannot appeal to the self-interest of prejudiced people, for rarely does an awareness of one's true self-interest survive one's prejudice."
"If there's one thing people of tolerance might usefully borrow from people of prejudice, it is their religious zeal."
The test, for me, of any religion is what is left of it when stripped of its theology. Is there a core of human kindness that can be practiced?
As for my own religion and politics, I continue to look for a religion that will accept me as a heretic and a political party that will accept me as a dissenter.