It was the cool gray dawn, and there was a delicious sense of repose and peace in the deep pervading calm and silence of the woods. Not a leaf stirred; not a sound obtruded upon great Nature's meditation [...] Gradually the cool dim gray of the morning whitened, and as gradually sounds multiplied and life manifested itself. The marvel of Nature shaking off sleep and going to work unfolded itself to the musing boy [...] All Nature was wide awake and stirring, now; long lances of sunlight pierced down through the dense foliage far and near, and a few butterflies came fluttering upon the scene.

Educate people without religion and you make them but clever devils.

Duke of Wellington Arthur Welles

Geological change usually takes thousands of years to happen but we are seeing the climate changing not just in our lifetimes but also year by year.

James Lovelock

I've spent hours and hours doing research into Appalachian folk music. My grandfather was a fiddler. There is something very immediate, very simple and emotional, about that music.

Renee Fleming

If God lived on earth, people would break his windows.

Yiddish Proverb

My earliest poems sing of the absolute necessity of allowing love to invade and pervade one's life. That can make the miracle happen in reality. Try it.

James Broughton

Spider-Man's probably my favorite. You see, Batman is a billionaire and there's nothing really cool about a billionaire saving the world. But Spider-Man is Peter Parker, a conflicted character who puts on a suit and saves the world. I love that.

Zac Efron

Don't forget it's daylight savings time. You spring forward, then you fall back. It's like Robert Downey Jr. getting out of bed.

David Letterman

We are always on the anvil; by trials God is shaping us for higher things.

Henry Ward Beecher

Beyond a certain point, the music isn't mine anymore. It's yours.

Phil Collins

I will say this for adversity: people seem to be able to stand it, and that is more than I can say for prosperity.

Kin Hubbard

...the law of empathy, by which he could, by his will, transfer himself into an object or a work of art, and thus inflence the outer world. He did not feel redeemed by the work he did. He did not seek redemption. He sought to see what others did not, the projection of his imagination.

Patti Smith

The other night I was lying in bed, looking up at the stars, and I wondered, 'Where the hell is my roof?

Steven Wright