"Give to God just one thought of sincere love and longing and He responds: 'My child, one silent call from the depths of your soul, and I am there in an instant.'"

“I am Syrian, I was made in Syria, I have to live in Syria and die in Syria.”

“To have an inner life, to think, to juggle and leap, to become a tightrope walker in the world of ideas. To attack, to riposte, to refute, what a contest, what acclaim. To understand. The most generous word of all. Memory. To retain, a geyser of felicity. Intelligence. The agonizing poverty of my mind. Words and ideas flitting in and out like butterflies. My brain a dandelion seed blown in the wind.”

Source : Violette Leduc (1965). “La bâtarde: an autobiography”

“Guilt is a gift from Allah warning you that what you are doing is violating your soul”

“Before Katrina, it was a longstanding tradition in our country for political officials to wait until the last minute to warn, to take action, to evacuate. No more. With Irene, you had mass evacuations - mandatory ones - issued days ahead of time. That was the right thing to do.”

Source : "A general talks storm lessons since Katrina". Interview with Ashley Fantz, www.cnn.com. August 29, 2011.

“People who hardly ever cook at all, suddenly at the holidays, feel like it's their responsibility to not only cook dinner for large groups of people suddenly, but to serve things that are fussy or fancy or formal. And I don't think that's what anybody really wants, especially if you're not good at it.”

“We have to build bridges that are stronger than the bombs that other people might throw”

“One cannot proclaim the Gospel of Jesus without the tangible witness of one’s life. Those who listen to us and observe us must be able to see in our actions what they hear from our lips, and so give glory to God!”

Source : Pope Francis (2016). “The Joy of Discipleship: Reflections from Pope Francis on Walking with Christ”, p.85, Loyola Press

“The reason why the romantic love relationship is such an intense and universally sought-after experience is that it seems to offer liberation from a deep-seated state of fear, need, lack, and incompleteness that is part of the human condition in its unredeemed and unenlightened state.”