"You will learn more about the people you work with in three minutes by asking them what they do for nothing, than by working with them for three years in the same team."

"How might volunteering contribute to lower blood pressure? Performing volunteer work could increase physical activity among people who aren't otherwise very active, says lead study author Rodlescia Sneed, a doctoral candidate in social and health psychology at Carnegie Mellon University. It may also reduce stress. "Many people find volunteer work to be helpful with respect to stress reduction, and we know that stress is very strongly linked to health outcomes," she says. As with any activity thought to improve health, researchers are trying to identify the specific characteristics of volunteering that provide the greatest benefit. For example, how much time would you need to put into volunteer work to lower your blood pressure or live longer? In the Carnegie Mellon study, 200 hours of volunteering per year correlated to lower blood pressure. Other studies have found a health benefit from as little as 100 hours of volunteering a year. Which types of volunteer activities improve health the most? No one really knows. Sneed speculates that mentally stimulating activities, like tutoring or reading, might be helpful for maintaining memory and thinking skills, while "activities that promote physical activity would be helpful with respect to cardiovascular health, but no studies have really explored this.""

"Volunteering is a window into the passions of the soul."

"Some volunteers are driven to heal others — and themselves. Robyn Houston-Bean, 52, said when her 20-year-old son Nick died of an accidental overdose in 2015 after participating in a drug-treatment program, she went from being “a real go-getter always doing a million things” to sitting numb on the couch for months. “The last thing I expected was for him to die,” she said. Her friends and extended family were also in shock, she said, and she found it hard to process her grief with them, largely because this kind of loss was not something any of them had ever experienced. Several months after his death, Ms. Houston-Bean discovered a volunteer organization that distributed clothing, food and other supplies to drug users living on the streets. She was intrigued. Her sister urged her to check it out in person. When she finally did, she found a nonjudgmental space full of volunteers whose loved ones had also been touched by addiction. Soon, she was heading out once a month to help those in need. “I felt like I could give my mothering to them that I couldn’t give to Nick anymore,” Ms. Houston-Bean said. Later that year she started a peer grief support group for those who have lost someone they love to substance abuse — the first of its kind in Braintree, Mass., her hometown. It became so popular that she created a nonprofit and found enough volunteer facilitators to run 13 groups in different parts of the state. “It takes the focus off of my grief and puts it somewhere else,” she said. “I have this whole real purpose now.”"

"Gary Bagley, executive director of New York Cares, the largest volunteer organization in New York City, suggested setting a small goal at first, like volunteering once a week or even once a month, and building from there. “One of the biggest mistakes you can make is to decide ‘I will volunteer twice everyday for the next year’ because you’ll burn yourself out on it,” he said. “So think of something that’s manageable for you — not frightening in its scope of commitment — and just take the first step.” Research suggests that volunteering consistently is what appears to reap the most benefits. In one study, widowers ages 51 and above who volunteered two or more hours a week felt less lonely — and were no lonelier than the married volunteers. Meg Goble, 68, a real estate lawyer who lives in Brooklyn, began volunteering with New York Cares 17 years ago. “In my other life, I’m a lawyer,” she said. “I like my job,” she added, but “it’s not as fulfilling as it used to be.” Ms. Goble lives alone, but in her work as a volunteer — helping elementary school students with their homework and arranging flowers with BloomAgainBklyn — she is continually socializing. During the pandemic, she also found ways to volunteer from a distance by doing virtual mock interviews with immigrants preparing to take the U.S. citizenship test and writing over 400 letters to seniors in nursing homes and assisted living facilities."

"Among older adults, social isolation and loneliness are associated with higher rates of mortality, depression and cognitive decline. Experts say that volunteering not only helps people feel less lonely, it can also improve physical well-being. A five-year study of more than 800 people in Detroit found that helping others who don’t live with you can act as a buffer against the negative effects of stress. Although the study participants encountered stressful life events like illness, job loss or financial difficulties, those who spent time doing tasks for others — like errands, child care and housework — were less likely to die than those who had not helped others. AARP Foundation Experience Corps, an intergenerational tutoring program, found numerous benefits to volunteering: More than 85 percent of volunteers felt that their lives had improved because of their involvement with the program and 98 percent reported that the program helped them stay physically and mentally active, said Lisa Marsh Ryerson, president of AARP Foundation, the charitable affiliate of AARP. “People want to matter and to be valued across their life,” Ms. Ryerson said."

"Well before a global pandemic tore us away from our loved ones, and the Omicron variant threatened to upend holiday plans, experts were warning of “an epidemic of loneliness” in the United States. Three in five Americans surveyed in 2019 reported feeling lonely, which the researchers attributed to a variety of factors, including a lack of social support, infrequent meaningful social interactions, poor physical and mental health and an imbalance in daily activities. In addition, nearly one quarter of those 65 and older are considered socially isolated, according to the National Health and Aging Trends Study. Loneliness often stems from unwanted solitude. But it is also driven by a discrepancy between how you perceive your relationships versus what you want (or expect) from them. That disconnect is why you can be surrounded by family at Christmas and still feel like an outsider. A potential cure? Kindness toward others. Something as simple as volunteering can improve our health, ease feelings of loneliness and broaden our social networks, studies suggest. Opportunities to give back — both in person and virtually — are more commonplace than they were last year, and the need for volunteers hasn’t let up, especially at food pantries. “Volunteering is one of the best, most certain ways we can find a purpose and meaning in our life,” said Val Walker, the author of “400 Friends and No One to Call: Breaking Through Isolation and Building Community.”"

"Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I. Send me.""

"The Espionage Act is being abused by the government to selectively prosecute sources and whistleblowers."

"To MI5, if you steam this open you are dirty buggers."

"And we did have fun. For five years we bugged and burgled our way across London at the State's behest, while pompous bowler-hatted civil servants in Whitehall pretended to look the other way."

"An awful symbiosis emerged between the main actors of the Cold War, a rhythm of escalation between the Pentagon and the Soviet strategic rocket forces, and along secret war between the KGB and the CIA which helped make the spy thriller into the distinctive cultural genre of the period. The two sides became locked into the roles of hero and villain in one another's morality play, as two distinct theories of social and political organisation believed they were grappling for nothing less than the inheritance of the planet."

"Indeed, there may well be many who will agree that death by hanging is almost too good for a sailor who will encompass the death of thousands of his shipmates without qualm."

"The spies of the underworld are legion. Craven crooks, for the most part, they are prey to blackmail."

"No spy, however astute, is proof against relentless interrogation. Some unforseen circumstance, some trivial lapse, is pounced upon, exploited by the interrogator, until a break is complete."

"His spies are seated round about."

"“We’re the intelligence community,” he said. “We don’t have rules. You don’t play by rules and win this game. And we don’t have emotions. We’re soldiers. If we wench a girl at night, and the orders come through to shoot her next day, we shoot. “When you’re laying your life on the line to protect the country you love, you don’t ask if what you do is fair—or even pretty. We take orders that are no more than a flick of an eyebrow, and we don’t ask questions—we get the job done. “I don’t think you know how to play that way. I don’t think you belong in the intelligence community.”"

"Excuse me, can you help me? I'm a spy."

"I played it slightly tongue-in-cheek because I never quite believed that James Bond was a spy because everybody knew him, they all knew what he drank. He’d walk into a bar and it would always be, 'Ah, Commander Bond, martini, shaken not stirred.’ Spies are faceless people."

"Mrs O'Grady has been sentenced to death. Personally I doubt whether she is guilty of anything more than collecting information. She probably pictured herself as a master spy, and cannot bring herself to say that there was really nothing behind it all."

"Need I say the C.I.A. be Criminals In Action Cocaine crack unpacking, high surveillance tracking Prominant blacks and whites giving orders for mass slaughters but I want all my daughters to be like Maxine Waters When they flooded the streets with crack cocaine, I was like Noah now they lower cause the whole cold war is over Communism fell to the dollars you were grabbing All the assault and battering in the name of intelligence gathering?"

"Eric Swalwell's spy scandal underscores the URGENT need for a ban on enemy foreign nationals as congressional interns!"

"Satellite reconnaissance and other intelligence breakthroughs also contributed to the obsolescence of major wars by diminishing the possibility of surprise in starting them, and by eliminating opportunities for concealment in waging them. Surprises could still happen, like Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in August, 1990, but only because the interpretation of intelligence failed, not its collection. Once the liberation of that country began early in 1991, Saddam Hussein found his military deployments so visible, and therefore so exposed to attack, that he had no choice but to withdraw. Transparency—a by-product of the Cold War strategic arms race—created a wholly new environment that rewarded those who sought to prevent wars and discouraged those who tried to begin them."

"Because something is not what it is said to be, Ma'am, does not mean it is a fake. It may just have been wrongly attributed."

"What would be the real damage if Washington stopped spying on Moscow and Moscow stopped spying on Washington, and both on Beijing? The result would be a draw. Immense sums of money would be saved, since a large part of the efforts of every spy agency is devoted to obstructing the intrigues of the competition. How many diseases could be overcome? How many hungry people fed, how many illiterates taught to read and write?"

"And of all the artists to have grappled with this age-old dilemma, Sullivan was perhaps the first to do so with a wreath of peace, and also goodwill for all, symbolising what Christmas truly means."

"There was Molly Sullivan's wreath-twigs interspersed with small bits of typewritten paper — which was said to symbolize the "challenge of expressing natural phenomena through the written word." Of all the artists to have grappled with this age-old dilemma, Sullivan was perhaps the first to do so with a wreath."

"Weave garlands, maiden, from the strands Of dill, and with soft gentle hands Set the delicious leafage round your head. The Goddess and the happy Graces Love to look on flower-crown’d faces, But turn aside from the ungarlanded."

"Character plays a tremendous role in military leadership. It's a combination of many things -- personality, clean living, presence. I just don't know; it's a very difficult word to describe because, as everyone knows, leaders come in all shapes and sizes and all sorts of personalities. I don't suppose I ever knew two men whom I knew well who differed as much as General MacArthur and General Patton, yet both were tremendous leaders of mass armies, both were men of great character. ~ General Anthony "Nuts" McAuliffe"

"An officer who stands up under fire, who has the courage to defend his convictions, not arrogantly, not stubbornly, but intelligently. Someone who does not believe he knows all the answers, who will listen to others with different experiences and different knowledge. It means a deep sense of loyalty. Unless an officer has character nothing he can do can cause his men to love and respect him. ~ General Albert Wedemeyer"

"I get accused all the time of using the word integrity when I mean character and character when I mean integrity. I think character is everything in leadership. It is what we try to build in all our young officers. It means the truth to me. That's the only way I can put it. To stand up and tell the truth and not be in the gray areas. ~ General Jacob Devers"

"There are many qualities that go into a man of sterling character. I don't know how to break it down. A man of high character has integrity, he is honest, he is reliable, he is straightforward in dealing with people. He is loyal to his family, his friends, his superiors. ~ General Wiiliam H. Simpson"

"I would place character as the absolutely number one requirement in leadership. By character, I mean primarily integrity. A man whose superiors and, even more important, whose subordinates can depend upon that leader taking action based on honesty and judgment. If he does not base his action on honor, he is worthless as a leader. ~ General J. Lawton Collins"

"You can't be wishy-washy as a military leader. You must be able to size up the situation and make a decision. Indecisiveness is weakness of character. You must be able to have confidence in what a leader tells you. ~ General Carl Spaatz"

"Character as we used to say when I was in elementary school, is what you are. Reputation is what others think you are. The reason that some fail to climb the ladder of success, or of leadership if you want to call it that, is that there is no difference between reputation and character. The two do not always coincide. A man may be considered to have sterling character. Opportunity might come to that man; but if he has the reputation for something he is not, he may fail that opportunity. I think character is the foundation of successful leadership. ~ General Lucian K. Truscott"

"I would put character way up on the list. If you want to select an officer for your command you want one who is confident of his abilities, who is loyal and who has good character. It is the man of good character that I am going to seek out. There are a lot of good people who know the 'smart' way of getting things done, but they also ride roughshod over people that they are supposed to be working with. I don't want that. ~ General Mark Clark"

"Dependability, integrity, the characteristic of never knowingly doing anything wrong, that you would never cheat anyone, that you would give everybody a fair deal. Character is sort of an all inclusive thing. If a man has character everyone has confidence in him. Soldiers must have confidence in their leader. ~ General Omar N. Bradley"

"Character in many ways is everything in leadership. It is made up of many things, but I would say character is really integrity. When you delegate something to a subordinate, for example, it is absolutely your responsibility, and he must understand this. You as a leader must take complete responsibility for what the subordinate does. I once said, as a sort of wisecrack, that leadership consists of nothing but taking responsibility for everything that goes wrong and giving your subordinates credit for everything that goes well. ~ General Dwight D. Eisenhower"

"Ah! my wang is hateful to you; or is it I, madam, that enjoys that privilege?"

"Okay, maybe there is no proof. Maybe the Grail is lost forever. But, Sophie, the only thing that matters is what you believe. History shows us Jesus was an extraordinary man, a human inspiration. That's it. That's all the evidence has ever proved. But... when I was a boy... when I was down in that well Teabing told you about, I thought I was going to die, Sophie. What I did, I prayed. I prayed to Jesus to keep me alive so I could see my parents again, so I could go to school again, so I could play with my dog. Sometimes I wonder if I wasn't alone down there. Why does it have to be human or divine? Maybe human is divine. Why couldn't Jesus have been a father and still be capable of all those miracles?"

"Only the worthy can find the Grail, Leigh. You told me that."

"I have kept hidden in the instep arch Of an old cedar at the waterside A broken drinking goblet like the Grail Under a spell so the wrong ones can't find it, So can't get saved, as Saint Mark says they mustn't. (I stole the goblet from the children's playhouse.) Here are your waters and your watering place. Drink and be whole again beyond confusion."

"Sir Bors de Ganis, he of Launcelot The nephew, brave as lions, pure as snow, With Galahad and Percival was destined The Holy Grail to witness and to taste Wine from the Sacred Chalice. Only these, Of all the Table Round, had purity Which gift alone the sangrael could win."

"Then came a maiden in — though all the doors Were closed. She, in her hands, the Sangrael bore. Then was a table o'erlaid with goodly fare: Red wine in crystal cups, and meat and fruit. "Peace be to thee and thine," she said, "Sir Bors, Go to the perilous siege, the siege of death! But first the Sangrael Galahad shall achieve; His father he excels in purity." Then kneeled they down, while wafted on the air Was incense of such savour, as the world Had never known; and, when the dove took flight, The maiden vanished, as the mists of morn — Vanished before the rays of that red sun, The source of life. Thus vanished and was gone The maid — the cup of sacred wine remained."

"No bravery is such a virtue as the Graele may gain. For Arthour never gained it — Launcelot Could not achieve it. Only three there were: Galahad, Bors, and Percival; of these Their spotless souls had ne'er been flecked by sin."

"Sweet brother, I have seen the Holy Grail… The Holy Thing is here again Among us, brother, fast thou too and pray, And tell thy brother knights to fast and pray, That so perchance the vision may be seen By thee and those, and all the world be healed."

"The cup, the cup itself, from which our Lord Drank at the last sad supper with his own.… If a man Could touch or see it, he was healed at once, By faith, of all his ills. But then the times Grew to such evil that the holy cup Was caught away to Heaven, and disappeared."

"The Holy Grail! — … What is it? The phantom of a cup that comes and goes?"

"The sweet vision of the Holy Grail Drove me from all vainglories, rivalries, And earthly heats that spring and sparkle out Among us in the jousts, while women watch Who wins, who falls; and waste the spiritual strength Within us, better offered up to Heaven."