To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded. – - – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Christianity stands or falls with its revolutionary protest against violence, arbitrariness, and pride of power and with its plea for the weak. Christians are doing too little to make these points clear rather than too much. Christendom adjusts itself far too easily to the worship of power. Christians should give more offense, shock the world far more, than they are doing now. Christians should take a stronger stand in favor of the weak rather than considering first the possible right of the strong.”– -Dietrich Bonhoeffer
“The problem is not that the young people haven’t learned our values; it’s that they have. They can see beneath our social and religious platitudes to what we care about most. Our great cultural message comes through loud and clear: it is an affluent lifestyle that counts for success and happiness. Yet we sometimes seem startled when the young really take our consumer values to heart and lose their hearts in the process.” — Jim Wallis “The Soul of Politics”
