“Peace of mind isn’t at all superficial, really,” I expound.  “It’s the whole thing.  That which produces it is good maintenance; that which disturbs it is poor maintenance.  What we call workability of the machine is just an objectification of this peace of mind.  The ultimate test’s always your own serenity.  If you don’t have this when you start and maintain it while you’re working you’re likely to build your personal problems into the machine itself." (Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, P164)

"That speech won't skow." (Abraham Lincoln's comment following his Gettysburg Address... before thousands of silent listeners broke into thunderous applause. It's believed that Lincoln had typhoid fever when he gave the address. Many newspapers carried negative reviews. Reporters who wrote these reviews were setting up and never heard the short speech...)

"A woman places and keeps her hand uncompulsed and unbidden on her companion's forearm. Few gestures are more intimate." (Don't remember where this came from. Generalize as you see fit.)

"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve niether liberty or safety." (Benjamin Franklin, An Historical Review of the Constitution and Government of Pennsylvania, 1859)

"Thoughts become words. Words become deeds. Deeds become habits. Habits become our character." (Buddha, And so we become who we were not.)

"Or if you could tell me all that in a story, boss. Like Hussein Aga did. He was an old Turk, a neighbor of ours. Very old, very poor, no wife, no children, completely alone. His clothes were worn, but shining with cleanliness. He washed them himself, did his own cooking, scrubbed and polished the floor, and at night used to come in to see us. He used to sit in the yard with my grandmother and a few older women and knit socks.

Well, as I was saying, this Hussein Aga was a saintly man. One day he took me on his knee and placed his hand on my head as though he were giving me his blessing. 'Alexis,' he said, 'I'm going to tell you a secret. You're too small to understand now, but you'll understand when you are bigger. Listen, little one: niether the seven stories of heaven nor the seven stories of the earth are enough to contain God; but a man's heart can contain him. So be very careful, Alexis-and may my blessing go with you-never wound a man's heart!' " (Nikos Kazantzakis, Zorba the Greek, p278. We should be gentle so as not to wound each other... but who remembers these things or lives such a life?)