“The arc of our evolutionary history is long. But it bends towards goodness”
Source: Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society
“Doing a little bit of good here and there makes everything a little bit better, everywhere.”
“If goodness was like mint...
..."It'll spread if it ain't hedged," her ma explained, then told her how mint roots roam under the soil and send up shoots inches, feet away, making more roots, and those roots then roam, send up shoots, making new roots. "And up comes more mint. If I don't wall it off, mint will take over the garden. We'll wind up with no corn and cabbages, no beans and tomatoes, no peppers, no goosefoot, no squash, no okra.”
Source: Crossing Ebenezer Creek
“Cover hatred and fear with love and delight, and with innocent things...The proponents of confrontation, violence, the acerbic comment, laughed at the innocent things, thought them naive, considered them beneath them. How easy it was to destroy the civilised structures of the world; how easy to poison the wells.”
Source: The Quiet Side of Passion
“We don’t need to be perfect to do good deeds in the world, but we need to be sincere in our efforts.”
Source: Co-Human Harmony: Using Our Shared Humanity to Bridge Divides
“So often as you set out to build the temple of peace you are left lonesome; you are left discouraged; you are left bewildered.
Well, that is the story of life. And the thing that makes me happy is that I can hear a voice crying through the vista of time, saying: "It may not come today or it may not come tomorrow, but it is well that it is within thine heart. It’s well that you are trying." You may not see it. The dream may not be fulfilled, but it’s just good that you have a desire to bring it into reality. It’s well that it’s in thine heart.
Thank God this morning that we do have hearts to put something meaningful in. Life is a continual story of shattered dreams.”
Source: The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.
“Success is a robbery. You're going to have to take it.”
“If everyone had the madness for doing good, there wouldn't be any misery in the world.”
Source: When Humans Unite: Making A World Without Borders
“Maybe the basic message of original sin isn't "Feel guilty all the time." Maybe it is more along these lines: "We all have a notion of what it means to be good, and we can't live up to it all the time.”
Source: When Breath Becomes Air
“I wonder if it's harder to be good in this age?”
Source: The Green Knight