Statistically the probability of any one of us being here is so small
that you would think the mere fact of existence
would keep us all in a contented dazzlement of surprise.
We are alive against the stupendous odds of genetics,
infinitely outnumbered by all the alternates who might, except for luck, be in our places.
Lewis Thomas, Lives of a Cell
The truth is always something that is told,
not something that is known.
If there were no speaking or writing,
there would be no truth about anything.
There would only be what is.
Susan Sontag, The Benefactor
Every street has two sides, the shady side and the sunny.
When two men shake hands and part,
mark which of the two takes the sunny side;
he will be the younger man of the two.
Edward Bulwer-Lytton, What Will He Do With It?
We are not thinking machines that feel,
we are feeling machines that think.
António R. Damásio, Descartes' Error
I'm not unmindful of man's seeming need for faith;
I'm for anything that gets you through the night,
be it prayer, tranquilizers, or a bottle of Jack Daniel's.
But to me religion is a deeply personal thing
in which man and God go it alone together,
without the witch doctor in the middle.
Frank Sinatra, Playboy interview 1963
I laugh and cry with the same eyes,
Love and hate with the same heart.
I feel my rage and my gentleness,
My sanity and suicide.
When I hide my anger, my joy doesn't seem real.
When I hide my fear, my strength is a fraud.
If I only laugh, I leave no place for your pain.
If I only shout, I leave no place for your tenderness.
I want to be all of myself,
So you can be all of yourself,
And together we can be whole.
James Kavanaugh