"That was a day of delight and wonder. While lying the shade of the maple trees under— He felt the soft breeze at its frolicksome play; He smelled the sweet odor of newly mown hay."

"Don't you remember sweet Alice, Ben Bolt? Sweet Alice, whose hair was so brown; Who wept with delight when you gave her a smile, And trembled with fear at your frown!"

"Your eyes were filled with love, Kate Vane; Ah, would that we were young again!"

"The successful managers know that the best way for their people to learn and grow is through experience and that means taking chances and making errors."

"Be aware that you may not be the best judge of what your employees need to do their jobs effectively. Even if you've done the job yourself, someone else may work best with a different set of tools, or in a different setup, because each person is different."

"In my opinion two is the ideal team. Any more and you're in danger of ending up with a committee that spins its wheels and accomplishes nothing."

"You can't literally cram a 25th hour into a 24-hour day. But you can shift activities and priorities so more time is available for essential tasks."

"Productive people guard their time more heavily than the gold in Fort Knox."

"Quality improves with effort according to an exponential curve."

"People I read a lot to my son were people like Robert Bly and Lucille Clifton, Frank O’Hara for some reason, Chinese poems, Japanese poems."

"Robert Bly said writing a bad poem before breakfast/every day is a good habit./He did it in honor of his old friend Bill Stafford/(who also did it) after Bill died./The poems were never bad, by the way./They were great./There were a lot of them./You could work on them later, after you ate."

"Sometimes the only way we learn to hold on to our deeper knowing is because a stranger jumps out. Then we are forced to fight for what we find dear-fight to be serious about what we are about, fight to get past our superficial spiritual motives, which Robert Bly calls "the desire to feel groovy," fight to hold on to the deeper knowledge, fight to finish what we have begun."

"I interviewed Robert Bly in 1990. I can remember saying to him, “Now, what about the men’s movement?” And he said, “No, it’s not men’s movement.” And I said, “Well, what will you call it?” “Men’s work, just work with men, that’s all.” And, I really like that. I like that he called it work with men. Mythopoetic is too big a word. It is better to have simpler words."

"Many people boast of going years without a vacation. But this is a sign of trouble — not commitment."

"One of the greatest satisfactions in life comes from getting things done and knowing you have done them to the best of your ability."

"Without a deadline, the motivation to do a task is small to nonexistent."

"When you approach others in judgement they will be on the defensive. When you are able to approach them in a kindly, loving manner without judgement they will tend to judge themselves and be transformed."

"Peace Pilgrim's Pocket" How old are you, Peace?/I am ageless!/Only three things in her pocket/comb toothbrush postage stamps/With those three possessions she lived/so many (secret number) years/making millions of friends/hiking byways and back roads/crossing the nation again and again/town to town thousands of miles/unafraid/"Life is a mirror!/Smile at it, it smiles back!"/woman with a white bun/striding by herself in a navy blue tunic/white tennis shoes/no money no credit cards no tickets/opening her mouth wherever people would listen/"Never stop your efforts for peace!"/walking till someone offered a bed/fasting till they offered food/"Personal peace necessary before world peace! Every good thing you say... vibrates on and on/and never ceases!"/I am standing outside under ageless pecan trees/listening to the voice I first heard in my/parents' living room/as a girl of three/"Would you kill a cow?/The three-year-old said, Never!/"Then how can you eat meat? Why let someone else do your dirty work for you?" She was thrilled to turn kids into vegetarians/"I'm only a little person but/there are lots of little things to be done!"

"In the final analysis you find spiritual truth through your own higher nature. Your higher nature is a drop in the ocean of God - and has access to the ocean. Sometimes your higher nature is awakened through the inspiration of beautiful surroundings or beautiful music, bringing you insights of truth. Sometimes you see the truth written or hear the truth spoken, and your higher nature confirms it. Or you directly perceive the truth from the inside through an awakening of the higher nature, which is my way. All the inspired writing came from the inner source, and you too can receive from that source. Be still and know."

"To attain inner peace you must actually give your life, not just your possessions. When you at last give your life — bringing into alignment your beliefs and the way you live them — then, and only then, can you begin to find inner peace."

"Spiritual truth should never be sold — those who sell it injure themselves spiritually."

"You have much more power when you are working for the right thing than when you are working against the wrong thing. And, of course, if the right thing is established wrong things will fade away of their own accord. Grass-roots peace work is vitally important. All who work for peace belong to a special peace fellowship — whether we work together or apart."

"Knowing that all things contrary to God's laws are transient, let us avoid despair and radiate hope for a warless world. Peace is possible, for thoughts have tremendous power. A few really dedicated people can offset the ill effects of masses of out-of-harmony people, so we who work for peace must not falter. We must continue to pray for peace and to act for peace in whatever way we can, we must continue to speak for peace and to live the way of peace; to inspire others, we must continue to think of peace and to know that peace is possible. What we dwell upon we help to bring into manifestation. One little person, giving all of her time to peace, makes news. Many people, giving some of their time, can make history."

"Never think of any right effort as being fruitless. All right effort bears fruit, whether we see the results or not."

"Praying without ceasing is not ritualized, nor are there even words. It is a constant state of awareness of oneness with God; it is a sincere seeking for a good thing; and it is a concentration on the thing sought, with faith that it is obtainable."

"I am constantly thankful. The world is so beautiful, I am thankful. I have endless energy, I am thankful. I am plugged into the source of Universal Supply, I am thankful. I am plugged into the source of Universal Truth, I am thankful. I have this constant feeling of thankfulness, which is a prayer."

"Please don't say lightly that these are just religious concepts and not practical. These are laws governing human conduct, which apply as rigidly as the law of gravity. When we disregard these laws in any walk of life, chaos results. Through obedience to these laws this world of ours will enter a period of peace and richness of life beyond our fondest dreams. The key word for our time is practice. We have all the light we need, we just need to put it into practice."

"This is the way of peace — overcome evil with good, and falsehood with truth, and hatred with love."

"A PILGRIM IS A WANDERER WITH A PURPOSE. A pilgrimage can be to a place — that's the best known kind — but it can also be for a thing. Mine is for peace, and that is why I am a Peace Pilgrim."

"There is great freedom in simplicity of living."

"Stop being an escapist! Stop being a surface liver who stays right in the froth of the surface. There are millions of these people, and they never find anything really worthwhile. Be willing to face life squarely and get down beneath the surface of life where the verities and realities are to be found."

"I HAD A VERY FAVORABLE BEGINNING, although many of you might not think so. I was born poor on a small farm on the outskirts of a small town, and I'm thankful for that. I was happy in my childhood. I had a woods to play in and a creek to swim in and room to grow. I wish that every child could have growing space because I think children are a little like plants. If they grow too close together they become thin and sickly and never obtain maximum growth. We need room to grow."

"What people really suffer from is immaturity. Among mature people war would not be a problem — it would be impossible. In their immaturity people want, at the same time, peace and the things which make war. However, people can mature just as children grow up. Yes, our institutions and our leaders reflect our immaturity, but as we mature we will elect better leaders and set up better institutions. It always comes back to the thing so many of us wish to avoid — working to improve ourselves."

"Material things must be put into their proper place. They are there for use. It's all right to use them; that's what they're there for. But when they've outlived their usefulness, be ready to relinquish them and perhaps pass them on to someone who does need them. Anything that you cannot relinquish when it has outlived its usefulness possesses you, and in this materialistic age a great many of us are possessed by our possessions. We are not free."

"I deal with spiritual truth which should never be sold and need never be bought. When you are ready it will be given."

"I shall remain a wanderer until mankind has learned the way of peace; walking until given shelter and fasting until given food."

"The summer has ended. The garden withers. The mornings become chill. I am thirty, I am thirty-four -the years turn dry as leaves.'"

"I have never been able to write the story. I reach a certain point and cannot go on. The death of kings can be recited, but not of one’s child."

"Solitude. One knows instinctively it has benefits that must be more deeply satisfying than those of other conditions, but still it is difficult."

"As his prick goes into her, he discovers the world. He knows the source of numbers, the path of the stars."

"He nestles himself flat in the meeting of her buttocks. An excruciating douche."