“Where are you taking me?” Raziel asked through a mouthful of food.
“Wherever I desire.”
“And what do you desire, ma’am?” the boy retorted, swallowing.
“That you be silent.”
Source: A Canticle of Two Souls
“Up high in the sky,
Far and not near,
Not seen by your eye,
Nor hear by your ear...”
Source: The New Cloud
“It just seems like such a hard road"-she took deep breaths until she felt herself inflated to the brink of bursting-"such a tough life. This is not the easy way."
"no," Penn agreed, "but I'm not sure easy is what I want for the kids anyway."
She looked up at him. "why the hell not?"
"I mean, if we could have everything, sure. If we can have it all, yeah, I wish them easy, successful, fun-filled lives, crowned with good friends, attentive lovers, heaps of money, intellectual stimulation, and good views out the window. I wish them eternal beauty, international travel, and smart things to watch on TV. But if I can't have everything, if I only get a few, I'm not sure easy makes my wish list."
"Really?"
"Easy is nice, but it's not as good as getting to be who you are or stand up for what you believe in," said Penn. "Easy is nice, but I wonder how often it leads to fulfilling work or partnership or being."
"Easy probably rules out having children," Rosie admitted.
"Having children, helping people, making art, inventing anything, leading the way, tackling the world's problems, overcoming your own. I don't know. Not much of what I value in our lives is easy. But there's not much of it I'd trade for easy either, I don't think.”
Source: This Is How It Always Is
“There is in Moscow a great curiosity for things American, and a great sympathy for things Negro. So, being both an American and a Negro, I am met everywhere with friendly questions from children and adults as to how we live at home. Is there really a crisis, with people hungry and ragged when there are in America so many factories, so much technique, so much wheat, and cotton and livestock? How can that be? Do they actually kill people in electric chairs? Actually lynch Negroes? Why?
The children in the Moscow streets, wise little city children, will oft times gather around you if you are waiting for a streetcar, or looking into a shop window. They will take your hand and ask you about the Scottsboro boys, or if you like the Soviet Union and are going to stay forever. Sometimes as you pass a group of children playing, they will stop and exclaim, "Negro!" But in wonder and surprise a long ways from the insulting derision of the word "Nigger" in the mouths of America's white children. Here, the youth in the schools are taught to respect all races.”
Source: Good Morning, Revolution: Uncollected Social Protest Writings
“Even if a child knows better, a child should be spoken to with loving respect to assist them to learn.”
Source: The Flower of Heaven: Opening the Divine Heart Through Conscious Friendship & Love Activism
“Some mountains will offer you beautiful sunrises and sunsets. Those are the rewards of engaging in the hiking process.”
Source: Coming to Grips with the Mountains and Valleys of This World
“When a child believes there is something wrong with them due to criticism, expectations, or judgements, they turn against themselves and experience the ultimate separation.”
Source: The Flower of Heaven: Opening the Divine Heart Through Conscious Friendship & Love Activism
“Regardless of what else he is, he is still a child, as they all are. And don't all children deserve to be protected? To be loved and nurtured so that they may grow and shape the world to make it a better place? . . .”
Source: The House in the Cerulean Sea
“And even the smallest of us can reach the stars - so why is it that once we’ve grown up we can't even see the sky?”
“Most parents thought they were being good parents. They learned from their parents or their grandparents, many of whom were severely traumatized and emotionally disconnected coming out of the devastation of a 1918 influenza pandemic and two world wars.”
Source: The Flower of Heaven: Opening the Divine Heart Through Conscious Friendship & Love Activism