„If we were always conscious of the fact that people precious to us are frighteningly mortal, hanging not even by a thread, but by a wisp of gossamer, perhaps we would be kinder to them and more grateful for the love and friendship they give to us.“

„Beauty is precious, you see, and the more beautiful something is, the more precious it is; and the more precious it is the more it hurts us that it will fade away; and the more we are hurt by beauty, the more we love the world.“

—  Louis De Bernières, buch Birds Without Wings

Quelle: Birds Without Wings

„Some few intense enjoyments are given us in life; among them all, perhaps, there is none with so deep a charm as to sit by the side of those we love, and watch them sleeping. Sleep is so innocent, so peaceful in its mystery and its helplessness; and sitting there we can fancy ourselves the guardian angels holding off the thousand evils imagination paints for ever hanging over what is most precious, most dear to us. The long deep-drawn breathing; the smile we love to hope is called up over the features by our own presence in the heart; there are no moments in life we would exchange for the few we have spent by the side of these.“

—  James Anthony Froude, buch The Nemesis of Faith

Arthur's commentary
The Nemesis of Faith (1849)

„We appreciate the complicated and wonderful gifts you give us in each other. And we appreciate the task you put down before us, of loving each other the best we can, even as you love us.“

—  Kate DiCamillo, buch Because of Winn-Dixie

Quelle: Because of Winn-Dixie

„Let's be simple and calm,
Like the trees and streams,
And God will love us, making us
Us, even as the trees are trees
And the streams are streams,
And will give us greenness in the spring, which is its season,
And a river to go to when we end…
And he'll give us nothing more, since to give us more would make us less us.“

—  Fernando Pessoa Portuguese poet, writer, literary critic, translator, publisher and philosopher 1888 - 1935

Sejamos simples e calmos,
Como os regatos e as árvores,
E Deus amar-nos-á fazendo de nós
Belos como as árvores e os regatos,
E dar-nos-á verdor na sua primavera,
E um rio aonde ir ter quando acabemos...
E não nos dará mais nada, porque dar-nos mais seria tirar-nos mais.
Alberto Caeiro (heteronym), O Guardador de Rebanhos ("The Keeper of Sheep"), VI — in A Little Larger Than the Entire Universe, trans. Richard Zenith (Penguin, 2006)

„People are always asking for the latest developments in the unification of this theory with that theory, and they don't give us a chance to tell them anything about what we know pretty well. They always want to know the things we don't know.“

—  Richard Feynman, buch QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter

Quelle: QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter (1985), p. 3

„Women love us for our defects. If we have enough of them, they will forgive us everything, even our intellects.“

—  Oscar Wilde, buch Das Bildnis des Dorian Gray

Quelle: The Picture of Dorian Gray

„We are the objects of undying love on the part of God. We know: he has always his eyes open on us, even when it seems to be dark. He is our father; even more he is our mother.“

—  Pope John Paul I 263rd Pope of the Catholic Church 1912 - 1978

Angelus (10 September 1978) http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_i/angelus/documents/hf_jp-i_ang_10091978_en.html; in an audience with Philippine bishops on 28 September 1978, he further elaborated: According to tales told by ancient men to attain their political objectives "God is the Father." According to what we really know "God is the Mother."
Kontext: We are the objects of undying love on the part of God. We know: he has always his eyes open on us, even when it seems to be dark. He is our father; even more he is our mother. He does not want to hurt us, He wants only to do good to us, to all of us. If children are ill, they have additional claim to be loved by their mother. And we too, if by chance we are sick with badness, on the wrong track, have yet another claim to be loved by the Lord.

„We can't form our children on our own concepts; we must take them and love them as God gives them to us.“

—  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Hermann und Dorothea

Hermann und Dorothea (1797)

„I suddenly understood that even love and caring weren't always enough. They were the concrete bricks of our relationship, but unstable without the mortar of time spent together, time without the threat of imminent separation hanging over us.“

—  Nicholas Sparks, buch Dear John

Quelle: Dear John

„It is when we ask for love less and begin giving it more that the basis of human love is revealed to us.“

—  Leo Buscaglia Motivational speaker, writer 1924 - 1998

Born For Love (1994)

„We have hands; we can stand on them if we want to. That's our privilege. That's the joy of a mortal body. And that's why God needs us. Because God loves to feel things through our hands.“

—  Elizabeth Gilbert, buch Eat, Pray, Love

Quelle: Eat, Pray, Love

„People kill nonhuman animals for food, for their skins, and sometimes just for fun. We enslave animals and force them to work for us. We experiment on them and justify their suffering in terms of our advantage. Because most of us want to be able to view ourselves as good people (and, perhaps more importantly, because we want others to view us as good people), we may be motivated to view nonhumans in such a way that these activities are rendered morally unproblematic. One way to do this is to view other animals as utterly different from us.“

—  Steve Stewart-Williams 1971

Quelle: Darwin, God and the Meaning of Life: How Evolutionary Theory Undermines Everything You Think You Know (2010), p. 111

„Truly we work and live on a streetful of splendid people, whom we are to love and serve even if they are uninterested in us!“

—  Neal A. Maxwell Mormon leader 1926 - 2004

Quelle: The Neal A. Maxwell Quote Book

„The most precious thing that democracy gives to us is freedom. You and I cannot escape the fact that the ultimate responsibility for freedom is personal. Our freedoms today are not so much in danger because people are consciously trying to take them away from us as they are in danger because we forget to use them. Freedom unexercised may be freedom forfeited. The preservation of freedom is in the hands of the people themselves — not of the government.“

—  Margaret Chase Smith Member of the United States Senate from Maine 1897 - 1995

As quoted in NEA Journal : The Journal of the National Education Association‎ Vol. 41 (1952) p. 300
Kontext: One of the basic causes for all the trouble in the world today is that people talk too much and think too little. They act too impulsively without thinking. I am not advocating in the slightest that we become mutes with our voices stilled because of fear of criticism of what we might say. That is moral cowardice. And moral cowardice that keeps us from speaking our minds is as dangerous to this country as irresponsible talk. The right way is not always the popular and easy way. Standing for right when it is unpopular is a true test of moral character. The importance of individual thinking to the preservation of our democracy and our freedom cannot be overemphasized. The broader sense of the concept of your role in the defense of democracy is that of the citizen doing his most for the preservation of democracy and peace by independent thinking, making that thinking articulate by translating it into action at the ballot boxes, in the forums, and in everyday life, and being constructive and positive in that thinking and articulation. The most precious thing that democracy gives to us is freedom. You and I cannot escape the fact that the ultimate responsibility for freedom is personal. Our freedoms today are not so much in danger because people are consciously trying to take them away from us as they are in danger because we forget to use them. Freedom unexercised may be freedom forfeited. The preservation of freedom is in the hands of the people themselves — not of the government.

„To be like Christ in His love is far more than to be like Him in His knowlege, if we were forced to choose between them; but they harmonize and strengthen each other; more knowledge will help us to love more; and more love help us to know more.“

—  Arthur Kenney Irish dean 1776 - 1855

Quelle: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 396.

„Benjamin, we’re meant to lose the people we love. How else would we know how important they are to us?“

—  Eric Roth American screenwriter 1945

Quelle: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Screenplay

„Ere that He made us He loved us, and when we were made we loved Him.“

—  Julian of Norwich English theologian and anchoress 1342 - 1416

Summations, Chapter 53
Kontext: Ere that He made us He loved us, and when we were made we loved Him. And this is a Love that is made, of the Kindly Substantial Goodness of the Holy Ghost; Mighty, in Reason, of the Might of the Father; and Wise, in Mind, of the Wisdom of the Son. And thus is Man’s Soul made by God and in the same point knit to God.
And thus I understand that man’s Soul is made of nought: that is to say, it is made, but of nought that is made. And thus: — When God should make man’s body He took the clay of earth, which is a matter mingled and gathered of all bodily things; and thereof He made man’s body. But to the making of man’s Soul He would take right nought, but made it. And thus is the Nature-made rightfully oned to the Maker, which is Substantial Nature not-made: that is, God. And therefore it is that there may nor shall be right nought atwix God and man’s Soul.
And in this endless Love man’s Soul is kept whole, as the matter of the Revelations signifieth and sheweth: in which endless Love we be led and kept of God and never shall be lost. For He willeth we be aware that our Soul is a life, which life of His Goodness and His Grace shall last in Heaven without end, Him loving, Him thanking, Him praising. And right the same that we shall be without end, the same we were treasured in God and hid, known and loved from without beginning.
Wherefore He would have us understand that the noblest thing that ever He made is mankind: and the fullest Substance and the highest Virtue is the blessed Soul of Christ. And furthermore He would have us understand that His dearworthy Soul was preciously knit to Him in the making which knot is so subtle and so mighty that it — is oned into God: in which oneing it is made endlessly holy. Furthermore He would have us know that all the souls that shall be saved in Heaven without end, are knit and oned in this oneing and made holy in this holiness.

„God gives us ministers of love,
Which we regard not, being near;
Death takes them from us, then we feel
That angels have been with us here!“

—  James Aldrich American editor and minor poet 1810 - 1856

My Mother's Grave.

„The more fortunate people among us would surely think we are civilized, but the less fortunate among us are a reminder that we’re not.“

—  Eugene J. Martin American artist 1938 - 2005