"I cannot pretend I am without fear. But my predominant feeling is one of gratitude. I have loved and been loved; I have been given much and I have given something in return; I have read and traveled and thought and written. I have had an intercourse with the world, the special intercourse of writers and readers.

"Above all, I have been a sentient being, a thinking animal, on this beautiful planet, and that in itself has been an enormous privilege and adventure."  --Oliver Sacks

"Speaking and acting means being free. But in the end, the truly human right, I think, for [Hannah Arendt], is the right to be remembered, the right to matter, the right to make an impact on the world. That's what humans want: to be meaningful. They want their actions to be seen, responded to, heard, and listened to."  --Roger Berkowitz

“Where shadows gather, they are already feeding.”  --Amazon Indigenous Elder

“The mind once enlightened cannot again become dark.”  --Thomas Paine

“It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.”  -- Franklin Deleno Roosevelt

"Something…something…if you give a man someone to feel superior to, they will empty their packets and hand you their money."  --Lyndon Johnson

"Lies corrode the world, and tyranny feeds on our cynicism. The only antidote is not only to resist what corrodes us but to rediscover — together — what is worth fighting for."  --Roger Berkowitz, The Tyranny of Lies