Thought for the Day

Home is a notion that only nations of the homeless fully

appreciate and only the uprooted comprehend.

~ Wallace Stegner

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Quoted from Wallace Stegner, Angle of Repose (1971, Winner, 1972 Pulitzer Prize; Viking, 2014) (This excerpt also is found in Christian Wiman, Ed., Home: 100 Poems (Yale University Press, 2021), p. 55

Wallace Stegner (February 18, 1909 - April 13, 1933), American Novelist, Environmentalist, and Historian

Thought for the Day

[O]ur eyes are not innocent. But we must hope to make them so.

We must refuse labels and prejudices, just try to see as a child sees.

~ Sister Wendy Beckett 

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Quoted from "Sr. Wendy on Art," Interview with Bill Moyers (YouTube), 2016

Sister Wendy Beckett (February 25, 1930 - December 26, 2018), Roman Catholic Nun, Art Historian, Art Critic on Television, Writer and Author

Obituary at The New York Times

Thought for the Day

Eighty percent of everything that is true and beautiful can

be experienced on any ten-minute walk. [. . .] On any ten-

minute walk anywhere [. . .] love abounds and abides,

 flirts and weeps with us.

~ AnneLamott

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Quoted from Anne Lamott, "Overture" in Somehow: Thoughts on Love (Riverhead Books, April 2024), pp. 1, 3

Anne Lamott, Author of Fiction and Nonfiction; Guggenheim Fellowship Recipient; Inductee, California Hall of Fame; Political Activist; Writing Instructor

Thought for the Day

[. . .] we need to look inward into our own pain, our own

loss, our own suffering, and see where we can heal. And

by healing ourselves, then we can truly be who we are,

which I believe is a complete gift to the world. [. . .]

~ Kalyanee Mam

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Quoted from "Documenting Shifting Landscapes: A Conversation with Kalyanee Mam," Emergence Magazine, September 5, 2024; Online (Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee interviewed Mam at Emergence Magazine's exhibition "Shifting Landscapes." The conversation was recorded live. A transcript is available at the link.)

 

Kalyanee Mam, Cambodian-American Filmmaker

Thought for the Day

[. . .] Prayer is a sweeping of forgetfulness, because it

is an honoring of remembrance. It is an affirmation,

and an affirmation is more powerful than negation.[. . .]

~ Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee

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Quoted from "Memory, Praise, and Spirit: A Talk by Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee" (Keynote at Conference on Spiritual Ecology and Peace-Building, St. Ethelburga's Centre for Reconciliation and Peace, London), Emergence Magazine, August 29, 2024; Online (The talk is available at the link as both podcast and transcript.)

Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee, Sufi Teacher and Filmmaker; Founder and Executive Editor, Emergence Magazine

Thought for the Day

The betrayal of a belief is not the same thing

as ceasing to believe.

~ James Baldwin

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Quoted from James Baldwin, Notes of a Native Son (Beacon Press,  2012)

James Baldwin (August 2, 1924 - December 1, 1987), American Writer, Novelist, Essayist, Playwright, Poet; Civil Rights Activist

James Baldwin Profiles at Library of America, National Museum of African American History and Culture, New York Public Library, PBS, The Poetry Foundation

Thought for the Day

Getting old is the second-biggest surprise of my life,

but the first, by a mile, is our unceasing need for deep

attachment and intimate love.

~ Roger Angell

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Quoted from "This Old Man" in The New Yorker, February 9, 2014; Online 

Roger Angell (September 19, 1920 - May 20, 2022), American Sports Essayist Specializing in Baseball; Senior Fiction Editor, The New Yorker

 

Roger Angell Obituary at The New York Times

Guide to the Roger Angell Papers, National Baseball Hall of Fame

Thought for the Day

We don't need anniversaries for things

we can never forget.

~ Diane Foley

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Quoted from Diane Foley, "Jim Foley's Legacy Helped Change Hostage Policy," Guest Essay/Opinion, The New York Times, August 18, 2024; online

Diane Foley, Mother of American Journalist James Foley; Founder, James Foley Foundation; Co-Author (with Colum McCann) of American Mother

James Foley (October 18, 1973 - August 19, 2014)

Thought for the Day

Receptivity without confrontation leads to a bland neutrality

that serves nobody. Confrontation without receptivity leads

to an oppressive aggression which hurts everybody.

~ Henri J. M. Nouwen

 

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Quoted from Henri J.M. Nouwen, Reaching Out: The Three Movements of the Spiritual Life (Image Books, 1966), p. 99  (This quote also appears in David Brooks, How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen (Random House, 2023), p. 259.)

David Brooks, Writer, Author, Political and Cultural Commentator

Henri J.M. Nouwen, Catholic Priest, Spiritual Writer

Henri Nouwen Society

Thought for the Day

When your instinct is to avoid or deny, you must

not look away.

When you're inclined to false hope or good cheer,

choose sincerity and quiet presence.

When you think you have all the answers,

ask a question.

~ Sharon Brous

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Quoted from Sharon Brous, The Amen Effect: Ancient Wisdom to Mend Our Broken Hearts and World (Avery/Penguin Random House, 2024), p. 146

Sharon Brous, Founding and Senior Rabbi, IKAR; Writer

Sharon Brous, "It's Time to Reclaim Religion," 2016 TedTalk