God uses broken things. It takes broken soil to produce a crop, broken clouds to give rain, broken grain to give bread, broken bread to give strength. It is the broken alabaster box that gives forth perfume. It is Peter, weeping bitterly, who returns to greater power than ever.
Science is never settled, because science is the craft of unsettling what we know at any given moment. If science could settle, man would never learn to fly or read by electric light.
A gentleman accepts the responsibility of his actions and bears the burden of their consequences.
Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, does not go away.
As a pastor I have stood at the bedside of literally thousands of people as they took their last breath. I have never once had somebody at their dying moment say, ‘Bring me my bowling trophy, I want to see it one more time; bring me my certificate, my college degree so I can look at it one more time; bring me the nice gold watch I got for 30 years of service at my company.’ Nobody ever says that; they say, ‘Bring me the people that I love.’ In the closing moments of their life, what people want are those they love the most around them.
[Laughter] allows us to step back from an event over which we have no control and deal with it and then move on with our lives. It helps distinguish us from animals. No matter what hyenas sound like, they are not actually laughing. It also helps define our sanity. The schizophrenic has no sense of humor. His world is a constantly daunting, unfriendly place. The rational man is able to find humor in his. …People with a sense of humor tend to be less egocentric and more realistic in their view of the world and more humble in moments of success and less defeated in times of travail. I certainly don’t delude myself that there aren’t certainly more important things to do in life than make people laugh, but I can’t imagine anything that would bring me more joy.
Gentlemen, it is better to have died a small boy than to fumble this football.
Pleasure depends on where you are, who you are with, what you are eating. Happiness is different. Happiness does not depend on where you are. I live in prison. And I have not had a day of depression in 25 years. I have been upset, angry. I have been sad. But never depressed. I have a reason for my being.
When you break the big laws, you do not get freedom; you do not even get anarchy. You get the small laws.
The old field of space, time, matter, and the senses is to be weeded, dug, and sown for a new crop. We may be tired of that old field: God is not.
You can be almost as stupid as a cabbage, as long as you doubt…
People think sex is a good way to understand another person, but it’s like studying someone’s shadow to determine how reliable or smart or confident or sincere or knowing or dangerous they are.
When you stop expecting people to be perfect, you can like them for who they are.
I can explain it to you, but I can’t comprehend it for you.
Build on failure…use it as a stepping stone. Close the door on the past. Don’t try to forget the mistakes…but don’t let it have any of your energy, or any of your time, or any of your space.
