Adam was but human—this explains it all. He did not want the apple for the apple’s sake, he wanted it only because it was forbidden.  
—Mark Twain

I have come to realize that the greatest trap in our life is not success, popularity, or power, but self-rejection.
—Henri J. M. Nouwen

Teach us to give and not to count the cost.
—Ignatius of Loyola

The only gift is a portion of thyself.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson

Nobody has a more sacred obligation to obey the law than those who make the law.
—Sophocles

The glory of Christianity is to conquer by forgiveness.
—William Blake

Darkness cannot drive out darkness. Only light can do that.
—Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The one who does a pure and whole work from God merits a whole kingdom.
—John of the Cross

Thy word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
—Psalm 119

When Jesus and his disciples are said to be in the world but not of the world, the meaning is clear enough. Although they live in the world they are not worldly, they do not subscribe to the present values and standards of the world.
—Albert Nolan, O.P.

The foundation of our way to God is to advance on the way of life with great patience, humility, poverty of spirit, and meekness. All these lead us to justice—and by justice, we mean the Lord himself.
—Macarius

You will know your vocation by the joy that it brings you.
—Dorothy Day

The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge . . . is itself a frightful despotism.
—George Washington

The Lord was baptized . . . to cleanse waters, so that those waters . . . might have the power of Baptism.
—Saint Ambrose of Milan

Service which is rendered without joy helps neither the servant nor the served. But all other pleasures and possessions pale into nothingness before service which is rendered in a spirit of joy.
—Mahatma Gandhi

The essential thing is always to begin again, despite everything and against everything, and never to be discouraged.
—Blessed Maurice Tornay

One true king knew when to step aside and give up the reins of power—to remove his crown and relinquish his kingdom—all for the sake of glimpsing, just once in a lifetime, the face of a holy child.
—Vera Nazarian

We returned to our places, these kingdoms, / But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation, / With an alien people clutching their gods.
—T. S. Eliot, Journey of the Magi

Stars cross the sky, wise men journey from pagan lands, Earth receives its savior in a cave. Let there be no one without a gift to offer, no one without gratitude as we celebrate the salvation of the world, the birthday of the human race.
—Basil the Great

A child needs both to be hugged and unhugged. The hug lets her know she is valuable. The unhug lets her know that she is viable.
—Polly Berrien Berends

Humanity is never so beautiful as when praying for forgiveness, or else forgiving another.
—Jean Paul

We have spouses and children and parents and colleagues and friends, because someone has to know us better than we know ourselves.
—Richard Russo

"Virtue,” as the ancients called it, is defined on the level of “that which depends on us.”
—Simone de Beauvoir