Clark Draney

“I USE A whetstone to hone the blades and knives I use in my work. It was engineered to be hard and perfectly flat when I bought it years ago, but now has a smooth complex curve that tells the story of how I use it. A tool responds to the way it is used. Slowly over time it just naturally changes its shape to fit in with the way I do things. I just like to look at it sometimes. To hold it in my hand. While the knife wears away the stone, the stone also wears away the knife and over time their curves become matched. People do that too: when Peggy and I met we were scratchy and brittle and fought a lot, but over the years we have worn off each other’s spines, smoothed out the roughness, and our curves now match.”
― Marc Hamer, How to Catch a Mole: Wisdom from a Life Lived in Nature

“I saw what Andrew did in our family. I saw that he came in and listened and watched and understood who we were, each individual one of us. He tried to discover our need and then supply it. He took responsibility for other people and it didn't seem to matter to him how much it cost him. And in the end, while he could never make the Ribeira family normal, he gave us peace and pride and identity. Stability. He married Mother and was kind to her. He loved us all. He was always there when we wanted him, and seemed unhurt by it when we didn't. He was firm with us about expecting civilized behavior, but never indulged his whims at our expense. And I thought: This is so much more important than science. Or politics, either. Or any particular profession or accomplishment or thing you can make. I thought: If I could just make a good family, if I could just learn to be to other children, their whole lives, what Andrew was, coming so late into ours, then that would mean more in the long run, it would be a finer accomplishment than anything I could ever do with my mind or hands."

"So you're a career father," said Valentine.

"Who works at a brick factory to feed and clothe the family. Not a brick-maker who also has kids. Lini also feels the same way... She followed her own road to the same place. We do what we must to earn our place in the community, but we live for the hours at home. For each other, for the children.”
― Orson Scott Card, Xenocide

“We... heal ourselves by giving others what we most need.”
― Sherry Turkle, Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other

“Not a word of what he said remains in my mind, but I remember going away with the impression that it was possible to live without knowing everything, after all, and that I might even try to be happy in a world full of riddles.”
― Mary Antin, The Promised Land