Terrence, the Roman slave who freed himself with his writings, once observed, "I am a human being. Nothing human is alien to me." That could be the motto of literature!

We are just living this moment; we don't have to live 150,000 moments at once. We are only living one. That's why I say you might as well practice with each moment.

To enjoy the world without judgment is what a realized life is like.

Joy is being willing for things to be as they are.

Meditation practice is simply moving from a life of hurting myself and others to a life of not hurting myself and others.

All I can be is who I am right now; I can experience that and work with it. That's all I can do. The rest is the dream of the ego.

We have to face the pain we have been running from. In fact, we need to learn to rest in it and let its searing power transform us.

It doesn't make any sense. If the SIM are policemen, secret or not, shouldn't we trust them instead of being afraid of them?

Depression is always in the details.

Marjorie Agosin proves the power of the word to transport us to the center of her humane and human vision.

I think it is important to know how to teach new material to help young people grow and learn.

Literature is about being a complex, contradictory human being.

Reading is a way to take in the difficult situations and understand them. The whole point of reading a book in class is to have discussion about what these situations are like.

Reading and thoughtfulness and openness are the best way, I should think, to begin to address the richness that is in each of us.

How we lie to ourselves when we've fallen in love with the wrong man.

Independence didn't have to be exile.

When we read, even if the characters are tragic or sad or disturbing, these are our brothers and sisters in the human family.

There is no end to what can be said about the world

The elasticity of imagination and compassion is what writing and reading promote.