It is regrettable that people think about our monetary system, and of our economic structure, only in times of depression.
The world spins. We stumble on. It is enough.
I’m not interested in blind optimism, but I’m very interested in optimism that is hard-won, that takes on darkness and then says, ‘This is not enough. ’ But it takes time, more time than we can sometimes imagine, to get there. And sometimes we don’t.
I write about what I know; and I write about things that are new to me, and that I didn't know before.
I think it is our job, as writers, to be epic. Epic and tiny at the same time. If you're going to be a fiction writer, why not take on something that means something. In doing this, you must understand that within that epic structure it is the tiny story that is possibly more important.
The thing about love is that we come alive in bodies not our own.
Goodness was more difficult than evil. Evil men knew that more than good men. That's why they became evil. That's why it stuck with them. Evil was for those who could never reach the truth. It was a mask for stupidity and lack of love. Even if people laughed at the notion of goodness, if they found it sentimental, or nostalgic, it didn't matter -- it was none of those things, he said, and it had to be fought for.
In the Way of Heaven, there is no partiality of love; it is always on the side of the good man.
Domestic discord is not inevitably and fatally necessary; but yet it is not easy to avoid.
To undertake the direction of the economic life of people with widely divergent ideals and values is to assume responsibilities which commit one to the use of force; it is to assume a position where the best intentions cannot prevent one from being forced to act in a way which to some of those affected must appear highly immoral. This is true even if we assume the dominant power to be as idealistic and unselfish as we can possibly conceive. But how small is the likelihood that it will be unselfish, and how great are the temptations!
Unfortunately, the highly curious student is a small percentage of the kids.