> It is always difficult to be happy; happiness is a constant struggle against many events and many people.

—Alain Badiou

> Paths are made by walking.

—Franz Kafka

> "Mon Dieu!" he said. "I am pleased never to have had you for an enemy. Are you certain you are not the Devil?" "Yeah, sure," I said. "Don't you smell the brimstone? And my right hoof is killing me." He actually sniffed a couple times before he chuckled, which hurt my feelings a bit.

—Roger Zelazny, "The Guns of Avalon"

> The deeper the darkness, the closer the dawn. However profound the suffering that envelops you, never forget the inner spark of hope and courage. Never lose the capacity to wait with patient enduring.

—Daisaku Ikeda

> There are no remaining comfort zones. There is no longer— if there ever was—scope for ideological congruence, for solutions that fit snugly into any one worldview. We will find ourselves in disconcerting places. We will be assailed by cognitive dissonance.

—George Monbiot

> You know I'll be standing by to help you if you worry; No more sadness, no more sorrow, and no more bad times. Everyday comin' sunshine, everyday everybody laughing. Walking together by the river, walking together and laughing.

―The Guess Who, "Share the Land"

> In modern terms, the four virtues are cherishing one's parents, living honestly and earnestly in society, treasuring friends, and treating all people with compassion.

―SGI October study, "Our Behaviour as Human Beings is the Heart of Buddhism"

> Last of all Hurin stood alone. Then he cast aside his shield, and wielded an axe two-handed; and it is sung that the axe smoked in the black blood of the troll-guard of Gothmog until it withered, and each time that he slew Hurin cried: 'Aure entuluva! Day shall come again!' Seventy times he uttered that cry; but they took him at last alive...”

―J.R.R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion

> Awareness also means learning what the signs of stress are in our own bodies, how our bodies telegraph us when our minds have missed the cues.

—Hans Selye

> What may look like a small act of courage is courage nonetheless.

—Nichiren Daishonin

> You can’t let the little pricks generation-gap you.

—Neuromancer, William Gibson