John McAndrew > John's Quotes

“Every time we choose safety, we reinforce fear.”
― Cheri Huber

“Abolition of a woman's right to abortion, when and if she wants it, amounts to compulsory maternity: a form of rape by the State.”
― Edward Abbey

“Water, water, water....There is no shortage of water in the desert but exactly the right amount , a perfect ratio of water to rock, water to sand, insuring that wide free open, generous spacing among plants and animals, homes and towns and cities, which makes the arid West so different from any other part of the nation. There is no lack of water here unless you try to establish a city where no city should be.”
― Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness

“Men argue. Nature acts.”
― Voltaire

“Models are models - and the real world is different. For example, for the last three years the world economy has grown significantly, but emissions have stayed flat - which wasn't supposed to happen for decades. The commitments that nations made in Paris won't kick in until 2020, but many are already implementing their pledges and moving ahead of schedule. The Marrakech Climate Change Conference, around the time of the 2016 U.S. Elections, saw the rest of the world setting strong new goals, with Germany submitting a plan to cut its climate footprint by 95 percent, and twenty-nine new regional and local governments (many in China) committing to similarly deep emissions cuts.”
― Carl Pope, Climate of Hope: How Cities, Businesses, and Citizens Can Save the Planet

“With meditation I found a ledge above the waterfall of my thoughts.”
― Mary Bray Pipher, Seeking Peace: Chronicles of the Worst Buddhist in the World

“Even the best weapon is an unhappy tool, hateful to living things. So the follower of the Way stays away from it.”
― Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching: A Book about the Way and the Power of the Way

“Thus they both set a fatal trap for the believer: if you believe in God you can’t believe in evolution, and vice versa. But this is rather like saying if you believe in Tuesday you can’t believe in artichokes.”
― Ursula K. Le Guin, No Time to Spare: Thinking About What Matters

“I came away from both these concerts marveling that while our republic tears itself apart and our species frantically hurries to destroy its own household, yet we go on building with vibrations in the air, in the spirit—making this music, this intangible, beautiful, generous thing.”
― Ursula K. Le Guin, No Time to Spare: Thinking About What Matters

“Since I know only a few Chinese characters, I obviously am not a translator. These “readings” are then not attempts at faithful reproduction but ventures in personal and spiritual interpretation.”
― Thomas Merton, The Way of Chuang Tzu

“I might as well add that I have enjoyed writing this book more than any other I can remember.”
― Thomas Merton, The Way of Chuang Tzu

“Depression is rage spread thin.”
― George Santayana

“The worship of power is an old religion.”
― George Santayana

“The earth has its music for those who will listen.”
― George Santayana

“Love is a temporary madness, it erupts like volcanoes and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is.
Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being in love, which any fool can do. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident.
Those that truly love have roots that grow towards each other underground, and, when all the pretty blossoms have fallen from their branches, they find that they are one tree and not two.”
― Louis de Bernières, Corelli’s Mandolin