• "From very far or very close—/ the most resolute folds of the mountain are gentle."

Jane Hirshfield, Sentencings

• "Three things in human life are important. The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. And the third is to be kind."

Henry James, “Letter to Willie James,” 1902

• "Water does not resist. Water flows. When you plunge your hand into it, all you feel is a caress. Water is not a solid wall, it will not stop you. But water always goes where it wants to go, and nothing in the end can stand against it. Water is patient. Dripping water wears away a stone. Remember that, my child. Remember you are half water. If you can’t go through an obstacle, go around it. Water does."

Margaret Atwood, The Penelopiad

• "Being both soft and strong is a combination very few have mastered."

Yasmin Mogahed

• "How I would like to believe in tenderness -"

Sylvia Plath, The Moon and the Yew Tree

• "If you wish to travel far and fast, travel light. Take off all your envies, jealousies, unforgiveness, selfishness and fears."

Cesare Pavese

• "The mouth should have three gatekeepers. Is it true? Is it kind? And is it necessary?"

Arab Proverb

• "It isn’t given for us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world."

F. Scott Fitzgerald

• "Love and kindness are never wasted. They always make a difference."

Barbara de Angelis

• "When Teresa of Avila was asked what she did in prayer, she replied, ‘I just allow myself to be loved.’"

Anthony de Mello, Sadhana, a Way to God

• "It is spring, and the night wind/ is moist with the smell of turned loam/ and the early flowers;/ the moon pours out its beauty/ which you see as beauty finally,/ warm and offering everything./ You have only to take."

Margaret Atwood, from "No name,“ Selected Poems II: 1976 - 1986

• "What room for love is there in such proud hearts? Love bows heads, gently, compassionately."

Albert Camus, “The Just Assassins,” Caligula and Other Plays

• "You remember your own parents. Their dark hair. Their dark voices. The way their stories came from the soles of their feet, the pits of their guts, the hollows of their throats. Anywhere but their hearts. You want to talk to your audience about Asha, but you want to be clear: “Don’t mistake storytelling for softness.”"

Dr. Airini, Silence in Law School LT 104.

• "I want to be like water: I want to slip through fingers but hold up a ship."

Michelle Williams, Interview With Holly Millea

• "To receive the light/ and return it…"

Jorie Graham, from “Two Paintings by Gustav Klimt"

• "She weeps and laughs like water. (Water is not wounded. There is no trace of the blood that flowed in the night.)"

Mahmoud Darwish, A Wedding Over There

• “Deep in their roots, all flowers keep the light.”

Theodore Roethke, from Straw for the Fire

• You hold a grudge for years. […] With such attachments, do you expect to arrive anywhere?

Rumi, “Bismillah”

• "What can you know about a person? They shift in the light. You can’t light up all sides at once."

Richard Siken, Portrait of Fryderyk in shifting light

• "Forgiveness does not mean ignoring what has been done or putting a false label on an evil act. It means, rather, that the evil act no longer remains as a barrier to the relationship. Forgiveness is a catalyst creating the atmosphere necessary for a fresh start and a new beginning. It is the lifting of a burden or the canceling of a debt. The words ‘I will forgive you, but I’ll never forget what you’ve done’ never explain the real nature of forgiveness. Certainly one can never forget, if that means erasing it totally from his mind. But when we forgive, we forget in the sense that the evil deed is no longer a mental block impeding a new relationship. Likewise, we can never say, ‘I will forgive you, but I won’t have anything further to do with you.’ Forgiveness means reconciliation, a coming together again. Without this, no man can love his enemies. The degree to which we are able to forgive determines the degree to which we are able to love our enemies."

Martin Luther King Jr. in “Loving Your Enemies”

• "Now go to sleep. Count stars. Think of the quietest thing."

One Christmas, Truman Capote

• “Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Do justly, now. Love mercifully, now. Walk humbly, now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.”

Rabbi Tarfon

• “It all matters. That someone turns out the lamp, picks up the windblown wrapper, says hello to the invalid, pays at the unattended lot, listens to the repeated tale, folds the abandoned laundry, plays the game fairly, tells the story honestly, acknowledges help, gives credit, says good night, resists temptation, wipes the counter, waits at the yellow, makes the bed, tips the maid, remembers the illness, congratulates the victor, accepts the consequences, takes a stand, steps up, offers a hand, goes first, goes last, chooses the small portion, teaches the child, tends to the dying, comforts the grieving, removes the splinter, wipes the tear, directs the lost, touches the lonely, is the whole thing. What is most beautiful is least acknowledged. What is worth dying for is barely noticed.”

Laura McBride, We Are Called to Rise

• "Kindness begins with understanding we all struggle."

Charles Glassman