The Errant Pilgrim's Progress

“Sometimes, the damage done by our words is obvious and sometimes it isn't, but the damage is not any smaller for our not being able to see those people who suffer from our words.”
― Leo Tolstoy, A Calendar of Wisdom: Daily Thoughts to Nourish the Soul

“Man is a creature who is designed to live on the surface; he lives in the depths–whether terrestrial, oceanic, or psychological–at his peril.”
― Susan Sontag, Against Interpretation and Other Essays

“The writer is the exemplary sufferer because he has found both the deepest level of suffering and also a professional means to sublimate (in the literal, not the Freudian, sense of sublimate) his suffering. As a man, he suffers; as a writer, he transforms his suffering in the economy of art–as the saints discovered the utility and necessity of suffering in the economy of salvation.”
― Susan Sontag, Against Interpretation and Other Essays

“Christ expressed all His teachings in His last commandment: 'Love each other, as I loved you. Everyone will see that you are my disciples, if you love each other.' He did not say, 'If you believe,' but 'If you love.' Faith can change with tie, because our knowledge is constantly changing. Love, on the contrary, never changes; love is eternal.

My religion is to love all living beings.”
― Leo Tolstoy, A Calendar of Wisdom: Daily Thoughts to Nourish the Soul