“Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do.”

― Voltaire 

“God is a comedian playing to an audience that is too afraid to laugh.” ― Voltaire

“I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: Oh Lord, make my enemies ridiculous. And God granted it." (Letter to Étienne Noël Damilaville, May 16, 1767)” ― Voltaire

“The more I read, the more I acquire, the more certain I am that I know nothing.” ― Voltaire

“It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.” ― Voltaire

“‎Life is a shipwreck, but we must not forget to sing in the lifeboats.” ― Voltaire

“Let us read, and let us dance; these two amusements will never do any harm to the world.” ― Voltaire

“Truly, whoever can make you believe absurdities can make you commit injustices.” — Voltaire

“Throw everything out of your mind. Read a little, sleep. The world will still be here when you wake up, and there'll still be everything left to do.” — James Baldwin

“The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born: now is the time of monsters.” — Antonio Gramsci

 “We are buried beneath the weight of information, which is being confused with knowledge; quantity is being confused with abundance and wealth with happiness. We are monkeys with money and guns.”

 — Tom Waits

 “The best people possess a feeling for beauty, the courage to take risks, the discipline to tell the truth, the capacity for sacrifice. Ironically, their virtues make them vulnerable; they are often wounded, sometimes destroyed.” — Ernest Hemingway

'Tis the times' plague, when madmen lead the blind. — William Shakespeare

 “A quiet secluded life in the country, with the possibility of being useful to people to whom it is easy to do good… then work which one hopes may be of some use; then rest, nature, books, music, love for one's neighbor — such is my idea of happiness.” — Leo Tolstoy

 “It is very important to go out alone, to sit under a tree—not with a book, not with a companion, but by yourself—and observe the falling of a leaf, hear the lapping of the water, the fishermen’s song, watch the flight of a bird, and of your own thoughts as they chase each other across the space of your mind. If you are able to be alone and watch these things, then you will discover extraordinary riches which no government can tax, no human agency can corrupt, and which can never be destroyed.” 

— Jiddu Krishnamurti

“I am not at all sure of myself. But when I walk alone in the woods or lie in the meadows, all is well.” — Franz Kafka

 “We are very good at preparing to live, but not very good at living. We know how to sacrifice ten years for a diploma, and we are willing to work very hard to get a job, a car, a house, and so on. But we have difficulty remembering that we are alive in the present moment, the only moment there is for us to be alive.” — Thich Nhat Hanh

 “I am fully aware and in full possession of myself. I have no desire to be understood, admired, pitied, or even known.” — George Sand

“Go into the arts. I'm not kidding. The arts are not a way to make a living. They are a very human way of making life more bearable. Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven's sake. Sing in the shower. Dance to the radio. Tell stories. Write a poem to a friend, even a lousy poem. Do it as well as you possibly can. You will get an enormous reward. You will have created something.” — Kurt Vonnegut

I am a farmer. I wake and put on my yellow slop boots and take the animals out in the dark, before dawn. I feed them, make coffee and check the weather. Then we drive to walk in the fields, lately the cemetery down the road since the snow is piled high covering the sidewalks. We repeat this twice a day.