On either side of a potentially violent conflict, an opportunity exists to exercise compassion and diminish fear based on recognition of each other's humanity. Without such recognition, fear fueled by uninformed assumptions, cultural prejudice, desperation to meet basic human needs, or the panicked uncertainty of the moment explodes into violence.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that's the best place to hang a noose. More politicians need to be sticking their necks out for us.

You have to remember one thing about the will of the people: it wasn't that long ago that we were swept away by the Macarena.

religion, the most powerful of the elements which have entered into the formation of moral feeling, having almost always been governed either by the ambition of a hierarchy, seeking control over every department of human conduct, or by the spirit of Puritanism.

Status quo, you know, is Latin for 'the mess we're in'.

Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish.