Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.

Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.

St. Teresa of Avila described our life in this world as like a night at a second-class hotel.

St. Teresa of Avila described our life in this world as like a night at a second-class hotel.

If our hearts are ready for anything, we can open to our inevitable losses, and to the depths of our read more

If our hearts are ready for anything, we can open to our inevitable losses, and to the depths of our sorrow. We can grieve our lost loves, our lost youth, our lost health, our lost capacities. This is part of our humanness, part of the expression of our love for life.

The longer I live, the more keenly I feel that whatever was good enough for our fathers is not good read more

The longer I live, the more keenly I feel that whatever was good enough for our fathers is not good enough for us.

We are here to add what we can to life, not to get what we can from it.

We are here to add what we can to life, not to get what we can from it.

Always try to keep a patch of sky above your life.

Always try to keep a patch of sky above your life.

Life every man holds dear; but the dear man holds honor far more precious dear than life.

Life every man holds dear; but the dear man holds honor far more precious dear than life.

Your life is what your thoughts make it.

Your life is what your thoughts make it.

I know that there are a lot of people out there with stories far worse than mine but you, too, read more

I know that there are a lot of people out there with stories far worse than mine but you, too, can make it. To those of you who have, welcome to life. I celebrate you.