The Bill of Rights

Amendments I-X of the Constitution of the United States

"Dear Cecil: Regarding the expression "deeper than whale shit," just how deep is whale shit? What would be the weight of the average bowel movement of the world's largest whale? -- Larry Lujack, Superjock, Chicago
"Dear Lar: Whale excrement is largely liquid in consistency and thus, like Top 40 radio and other effluvia, has little substance and no depth. The world's largest whales are blue whales, and these excrete a minimum of 2 percent of their body weight — about three tons — each day. -- Cecil Adams"
-- The Straight Dope

"When you're smiling, the whole world really does smile with you. A paper being published Friday in a British medical journal concludes that happiness is contagious -- and that people pass on their good cheer even to total strangers. American researchers who tracked more than 4,700 people in Framingham, Mass., as part of a 20-year heart study also found the transferred happiness is good for up to a year. 'Happiness is like a stampede,' said Nicholas Christakis, a professor in Harvard University's sociology department and co-author of the study. 'Whether you're happy depends not just on your own actions and behaviors and thoughts, but on those of people you don't even know.' While the study is another sign of the power of social networks, it ran through 2003, just before the rise of social networking Web sites like Friendster, MySpace and Facebook. Christiakis couldn't say for sure whether the effect works online. 'This type of technology enhances your contact with friends, so it should support the kind of emotional contagion we observed,' he said.... They found distinct happy and unhappy clusters significantly bigger than would be expected by chance. Happy people tended to be at the center of social networks and had many friends who were also happy. Having friends or siblings nearby increased people's chances of being upbeat. Happiness spread outward by three degrees, to the friends of friends of friends. Happy spouses helped, too, but not as much as happy friends of the same gender. Experts think people, particularly woman, take emotional cues from people who look like them. Christakis and Fowler estimate that each happy friend boosts your own chances of being happy by 9 percent. Having grumpy friends decreases it by about 7 percent. But it also turns out misery don't love company: Happiness seemed to spread more consistently than unhappiness. But that doesn't mean you should drop your gloomy friends. 'Every friend increases the probability that you're at the center of a network, which means you are more eligible to get a wave of happiness,' Fowler said. Being happy also brings other benefits, including a protective effect on your immune system so you produce fewer stress hormones, said Andrew Steptoe, a psychology professor at University College London who was not involved with the study.... But in a time of economic gloom, it also suggested some heartening news about money and happiness. According to the research, an extra chunk of money increases your odds of being happy only marginally -- notably less than the odds of being happier if you have a happy friend. 'You can save your money,' Christakis said. 'Being around happy people is better.'
-- Study suggests good cheer may spread itself by Maria Cheng, Associated Press Medical Writer, December 4, 2008

Random quotes from around the region and nation

"The more often one enters the secret place to meditate on holy thoughts, the more does one become like Christ."
-- Frances W. Foulks

"Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much."
-- Leaves of Gold compiled by Jo Petty

"Ever wake up with a bow on your penis and have no idea why?"

"Success in marriage is much more than finding the right person; it is a matter of being the right person."
-- Leaves of Gold compiled by Jo Petty

"Raising children is like being pecked to death by chickens."

"Hate is a prolonged manner of suicide."
-- Leaves of Gold compiled by Jo Petty

".... One day Sam Johnson had a little too much partying. He hitched up his team and loaded his wagon and headed for home. He became very sleepy, pulled his team into a grove of trees and laid down to rest. He was soon fast asleep. Some of his friends came along and decided to pull a trick on him. They unhitched his team and led them into the woods. They concealed their teams, hid and made some noise to wake Sam. He woke up still groggy. Looking around somewhat confused, he said, 'If I am Sam Johnson, I have lost a team of horses. But if I am someone else, I have found myself a wagon.'"
-- Joel R. Waldron, Sr., Going To The Mill, Daily News, 10/17-19/08

"Confidence doesn't come out of nowhere. It's a result of something ... hours and days and weeks and years of constant work and dedication."
-- Roger Staubach

"The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status or ethnic background, is that, deep down inside, we ALL believe that we are above-average drivers."

"A mistake at least proves somebody stopped talking long enough to do something."
-- Leaves of Gold compiled by Jo Petty

"Love binds everything together in perfect harmony."
-- Col. 3:14

"God has actually planted man in a garden or paradise of potential substance, out of which he can grow his properity."
-- Charles Fillmore (1854-1948), co-founder of the Unite movement and Silent Unity, an international prayer ministry

"As the light of the sun brings life and growth to the earth, so the light of the Spirit, the Son of God, brings life and growth to the soul."
-- Martin Smock

"The city of Johnson City continues to go green, now partnering with Energy Systems Group to renovate all city facilities. As part of the Green Building Initiative, 32 municipal buildings and 12 schools will be modernized and equipped with energy conservation measures. The nearly $11 million project is expected to take about one year to implement and is guaranteed by ESG to pay for itself within 10 years. The difference in energy savings is expected to total more than enough to pay off the bond used for the initial work. 'This project, the scope of it, is the first of it’s kind in the state where you have a city and its school system taking a holistic approach to a major energy savings project,' ESG representative Russ Nelson said. 'It is one our larger projects.' Mayor Phil Roe touted the program as one, among several in Johnson City, that other municipalities would do well to implement. 'If every city in America would do what we’ve done ... the savings would be in the billions,' Roe said. The project includes: • Centralized automated energy controls. • Added insulation. • Replacement of outdated plumbing systems. • Installation of new windows. • New heating and air conditioning units. • New lighting • New kitchen equipment. As an added local bonus, the new energy efficient windows will come from Traco, a Johnson City-based manufacturer. 'This will not only be good for the city, efficiency-wise and environmentally-wise, but it’s good for the local economy and will hopefully stimulate some job growth,' Roe said. The project is expected to save the city 24 percent annually on energy costs for municipal buildings and 30 percent on costs for school facilities. A news release from the city stated: 'In addition to providing the city and school system with over $730,000 in annual energy savings, ESG is helping provide environmental benefits equal to ... removal of emissions equivalent to over 1,900 cars per year, planting over 3,500 acres of forest annually or conserving enough energy to power more than 1,300 homes per year.' This project is the second “green-energy partnership” between ESG and the city. ESG designed, built and operates the award-winning Gas-to-Energy facility at the city’s Iris Glen Environmental Center."
-- Corey Shoun in City partners with firm to make 44 buildings more energy efficient, Johnson City Press, 12/4/08

"Relaxation comes to your mind and body through a feeling of trust in the presence and power of God."

"KEEP ASHEVILLE WEIRD"
-- bumper sticker

"Love sees through a telescope -- not a microscope."
-- Leaves of Gold compiled by Jo Petty

"Die, perky one, die."

"... Einstein advanced a theory that there was no ether and that light did, in fact, travel through the universe without a medium by distorting space. Einstein further postulated that this effect explained the force of gravity as well, maintaining that gravity was not a force at all in the conventional way Newton pictured it. Instead, it was the result of the way the mass of a star of planet also distorted space.... The earth distorts [the moon's] surrounding space in a way that curves this space, so that the moon in reality goes in a straight line, following the laws of inertia, but still circles out planet in an orbit. This means that we do not live in a universe in which space expanded outward in all directions into that infinity. The overall universe is curved by the entirety of the matter within it in an incredibly mysterious way. This means if we were to travel in a perfectly straight lin in one direction long enough, over a great enough distance, we would return to the exact same place where we began.... (we've sort of done that, haven't we?).... What lies outside this universe? Other universes? other dimensions?..."
-- The Celestine Vision by James Redfield

"If you had to do it over, would you fall in love with yourself again?"
-- Leaves of Gold compiled by Jo Petty

"Ceremonies are different in every country, but true politeness is everywhere the same."
-- Leaves of Gold compiled by Jo Petty

"Raising teenagers is like nailing jello to a tree.

"How much deeper would the ocean be if it didn't contain any sponges?"

"Even if you win the rat race, you're still a rat."

"Out beyond ideas of wrong-doing and right-doing, there is a field. I'll meet you there."
-- Rumi

"Auntie Em, I lied to you -- I hate Kansas. -- I'm taking the dog. Dorothy"

"Good moring, This is God. I will be handling all your problems today. I will not need your help. So have a good time. I love you!"

"Scientists in Japan are working on the design of an origami paper airplane that may be launched from space. If the paper airplane actually lands back on earth, scientists could learn a lot about designing re-entry vehicles or space probes. Shinji Suzuki, a professor at Tokyo University's Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, said he first considered using Japan's ancient art of paper folding to advance science 10 years ago, but dismissed the idea as silly. 'But then I started to think if it came down slowly enough, it might work.' Tests of a small origami plane in a hypersonic wind tunnel have gone very well so far."
-- Coffee News, 12/8/08

"When approaching a four-way stop, the vehicle with the largest tires always has the right of way."

"If you get to thinking you're a person of some influence, try ordering somebody else's dog around."

"There is no future in time travel."

"Why did the doctor tiptoe past the medicine cabinet? He didn't want to wake up the sleeping pills."

"Living is a constant process of deciding what we are going to do."
-- Jose Ortega y Gasset

"The pen is mightier than the sword, and considerably easier to write with."
-- Marty Feldman

"Excuses are the easiest things to manufacture and the hardest things to sell."

"Two black bears are walking down the aisle of the grocery store. One turns to the other and says, 'Quiet in here today, isn't it?'"

"You should not confuse your career with your life. No matter what happens, somebody will find a way to take it too seriously."

"No man was ever shot while doing the dishes."

"If at first you do succeed, try not to look so astonished."

"May the forces of evil become confused on the way to your house."
-- George Carlin

"It's called P.M.S. because Mad Cow Disease was already taken."

"Life is not a problem to be solved but a mystery to be lived."

"... the mouth was and continues to be the most threatening opening of the female body: it can eventually express what shouldn't be expressed, reveal the hidden desire, unleash the menacing differences which upset the core of phallogocentric, paternalistic discourse."
-- Luisa Valenzuel in "Dirty Words" from A Secret Weavers Anthology, edited by Andrea O'Reilly Herrera

"'Reality' is the only word in the English language that should always be used in quotes."

"What do you do if you see a blue frog? Stop and cheer him up!"

"The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork."
-- Psalm 19:1

"Home -- that blessed word which opens to the human heart the most perfect glimpse of heaven."
-- Lydia M. Child (1802-1880), abolishionist, activist, novelist and journalist. (Though she is perhaps best known for her poem "Over the River and Through the Woods," Lydia Child wrote extensively on issues of justice for Native Americans, African Americans and Women.)

"My people will abide in a peaceful habitation .. and in quiet resting places."
-- Isaiah 32:18

"Cadbury, the world's second-largest confectionery maker, argues that even when times are tough, chocolate is an affordable treat and one of the last to be scratched off people's shopping lists.... Founded by John Cadbury nearly 200 years ago as a family firm, Cadbury is now a widely recognized brand selling products in over 60 countries: as an institution, it has a memory of economic depression.... Over 100 years ago chocolate was only available as a drink, but for Cadbury's that changed when John's grandson mixed cocoa solids with fresh milk to produce Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate in 1905: this is now the foundation of the group.... 'It will take a lot more than a financial meltdown to stop me eating Cadbury's chocolate,' said Graham Barrett, buying a bar of Dairy Milk chocolate in the Canary Wharf financial district. 'In fact, people are probably eating more to cheer themselves up.'.... In the UK, [Cadbury] plans to focus chocolate production at Bournville, a plant in Birmingham which dates back to 1879. Now running around the clock with a sweet chocolate fragrance at the factory gates, it can churn out 5.5 million moulded bars and 17 million chocolate buttons in a 24-hour period.... For Bournville, the changes may be a return to the past. A site by the Bourne brook in south-west Birmingham chosen by John Cadbury's sons George and Richard, its name appears on one of the Cadbury's dark chocolate bars. Back in 1879, the brothers added 'ville' to its name as a token of sophistocation -- it was thought confectionery should always have a French flavour.... In England, Bournville became known as a home for philanthropic capitalism: the Cadbury family were Quakers and initially championed tea, coffee and cocoa as a substitute for alcohol, seen to cause poverty and deprivation among workers...."
-- David Jones, Cadbury 'Streamlines' To Save Money In Hard Times, Daily News 10/17-179/08

"Of His kingdom there will be no end."
-- Luke 1:33

"Nothing is ever finished: everything is to grow. Nothing is ever completed, though everything is complete."
-- James Dillet Freeman (1912-2003), poet, author, and minister. (Two of his works Prayer For Protection and I Am There were placed on the moon by astronauts Buzz Aldrin and James Irwin. A true poet, Freeman's noble aim in life was "to help people not to hurt so much.")

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law."
-- Galatians 5:22-23

"Raising teenagers is like nailing jello to a tree.

"Real friends are those who, when you've made a fool of yourself, don't feel that you've done a permanent job."
-- Leaves of Gold compiled by Jo Petty

"Work is love made visible. To love life through labor is to be intimate with life's inmost secret."
-- Leaves of Gold compiled by Jo Petty

"Unattended children will be given espresso and a kitten."

"He who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers love."
-- Leaves of Gold compiled by Jo Petty

"I married her because we have so many faults in common."
-- Leaves of Gold compiled by Jo Petty

"Stick around. Things get much stranger."

"A friend is one who knows all about you and still likes you."
-- Leaves of Gold compiled by Jo Petty

"Forgiveness is the fragrance the violet sheds on the heel that crushed it."
-- Leaves of Gold compiled by Jo Petty

"For this I embraced the dark side?

"Love is the passionate and abiding desire on the part of two or more people to produce together conditions under which each can be, and spontaneously express, his real self; to produce together an intellectual soil and an emotional climate in which each can flourish, far superior to what either could achieve alone."
-- Leaves of Gold compiled by Jo Petty

"One of the mysteries of life is how the boy who wasn't good enough to marry the daughter can be the father of the smartest grandchild in the world."
-- Leaves of Gold compiled by Jo Petty

"Persons are prohibited from picking flowers from any but their own graves."
-- cemetery sign

"To understand is to pardon."
-- Leaves of Gold compiled by Jo Petty

"Guests are requested not to smoke or do other disgusting behaviours in bed."
-- Tokyo hotel sign

"If you choose not to decide -- you still have made a choice!"

"The best way to get a man to do something is to suggest he's too old for it."

"Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go."

"Always use tasteful words -- you never know when you'll have to eat them."

"The length of a film should be directly related to the endurance of the human bladder."
-- Alftred Hitchcock

"In the Bahamas, people refer to a banana wind, but they aren't talking about the scent of ripe banana wafting past your nose. It's actually a wind that's strong enough to knock fruit off the trees."

"The best way to make a silk purse from a sow's ear is to begin with a silk sow. The same is true of money."
-- Norman Augustine

"If all is not lost, where is it?"

"The smallest good deed is better than the grandest intention."
-- Leaves of Gold compiled by Jo Petty

"Politeness is a small price to pay for the good will and affection of others."
-- Leaves of Gold compiled by Jo Petty

"Happiness is homemade."

"A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver."
-- Proverbs 25:11

"I know of no higher fortitude that stubbornness in the face of overwhelming odds."
-- Louis Nizer

"The greater the man, the greater the courtesy."
-- Leaves of Gold compiled by Jo Petty

"Two decades after the Berlin Wall fell, communism's founding father Karl Marx is back in vogue in eastern Germany -- thanks to the global financial crisis. His 1867 critical analysis of capitalism, 'Das Kapital,' has risen from the publishing graveyard to become an improbable best-seller for academic publisher Karl-Dietz-Verlag.... 'Even bankers and managers are now reading 'Das Kapital' to try to understand what they've been doing to us. Marx is definitely 'in' right now,' [managing director Joern] Schuetrumpf said. The revival of Marx's treatise reflects a broader rejection of capitalism by many in eastern Germany, a communist country until 1989 and now racked by high unemployment and poverty. A month of intense financial turmoil has toppled banks in the United States and forced a series of government bailouts in Germany and elsewhere, reinforcing anti-capitalist sentiment.... A recent survey found 52 percent of eastern Germans believe the free market economy is 'unsuitable' and 43 percent said they wanted socialism rather than capitalism, findings confirmed in interviews with dozens of ordinary easterners. 'We read about the 'horrors of capitalism' in school. They really got that right. Karl Marx was spot on,' said Thomas Pivitt, a 46-year old IT worker from east Berlin. 'I had a pretty good life before the Wall fell,' he added. 'No one worried about money because money didn't really matter. You had a job even if you didn't want one. The communist idea wasn't all that bad.' Unemployment in the former communist east is 14 percent, double western levels, and wages are significantly lower.... 'I thought communism was shit but capitalism is even worse,' said Hermann Haibel, a 76-year-old retired blacksmith, who was strolling near Alexanderplatz in the heart of old East Berlin. 'The free market is brutal. The capitalist wants to squeeze out more, more, more,' he said.... 'I don't think capitalism is the right system for us,' said Monika Weber, a 46-year-old city clerk. 'The distribution of wealth is unfair. We're seeing that now. The little people like me are going to have to pay for this financial mess with higher taxes because of greedy bankers.'... 'It took just a few weeks to realize what the free market economy was all about,' said [Ralf] Wulff. 'It's rampant materialism and exploitation. Human beings get lost. We didn't have the material comforts but communism still had a lot going for it.'... 'Capitalism has its advantages but so does communism,' [Astrid Gerber] said. 'I can't say one is better than the other.'"
-- Erik Krischbaum, Global Crisis Sends East Germans Flocking To Marx, Reuters, 10/16/08

"Please to bathe inside the tub."
-- Japanese hotel sign

"Pure religion is love in action."
-- Leaves of Gold compiled by Jo Petty

-- Elton John

"Charm is getting the answer yes without asking a clear question."
-- Albert Camus

"In mathematics, you don't understand things. You just get used to them."

"Please leave your values at the front desk."
-- Paris hotel sign

"'We are all in a world of hurt economically, all of us. Now we need to galvanize and put our brain trusts together to explore marketing and promotional strategies for the good of the entire community,' said Karin Moss, executive director of High Country Host."
-- Rethinking Our Approach To Tourism in High Country Press, Boone NC

"The flattening of underwear with pleasure is the job of the chambermaid."
-- Yugoslavian hotel sign

"Angels can fly because they take themselves lightly."

"We are just tenants on this earth. We have been given a new lease, and a warning from the landlord."

"An economist is an expert who will know tomorrow why the things he predicted yesterday didn't happen today."

"We never disclose our character so clearly as when we describe another's."

"Temper is a weapon we hold by the blade."
-- James M. Barrie

"Just because you don't understand me doesn't mean I have to explain myself."

"You will never do anything in this world without courage. It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honor."
-- Aristotle

"New ideas pass through three periods: 1) It can't be done; 2) It probably can be done, but it's not worth doing; 3) I knew it was a good idea all along!"
-- Arthur Clarke

"You are welcome to visit the cemetery where famous Russian and Soviet composers, artists, and writers are buried daily except Thursday."
-- Moscow hotel sign across from Russian Orthodox monastery

"Our wines leave you nothing to hope for."
-- Swiss restaurant menu

"Man is probably the only animal which even attempts to have anything to do with his half-grown young."
-- Leaves of Gold compiled by Jo Petty

"Age is only important if you are a cheese."

"An injurious truth has no merit over an injurious lie."
-- Leaves of Gold compiled by Jo Petty

"A friend is one who comes to you when all others leave."
-- Leaves of Gold compiled by Jo Petty

"The merciful man doeth good to his own soul."
-- Proverbs 11:37

"When a man does a noble act, date him from that. Forget his faults. Let his noble act be the standpoint from which you regard him."
-- Leaves of Gold compiled by Jo Petty

"A house is built by hands; a home is built by hearts."

"Most people don't know what a 'drupe' is, but they eat them a lot. Drupes are a common part of the American diet -- succelnt, single-pitted fruit, such as plums, apricots and cherries, as well as almonds and olives."

"You can't have everything. Where would you put it?"

"... Microwaves penetrate the food from all directions ... [Aluminum foil, metal including silver, gold and pewter reflect those waves back off of any food inside.] ... When the microwave oven is turned off, microwave activity stops immediately. The water molecules which are vibrating at 2,450 million times per second [emphasis added] can't stop that fast. Additional cooking will continue until they stop....Roast and turkey internal temperatures will rise 15 degrees during the standing [out of oven] time...."
-- Adventures in Microwave Cooking, 1979, by Marti Murry and The Culinary Arts Institute Staff

"You will never find anybody who can give you a clear and compelling reason why we observe daylight-savings time."

"Idea Hamsters: People who always seem to have their idea generators running."

"The most powerful force in the universe is gossip."

"We can do no great things -- only small things with great love."
-- Mother Teresa

"Forget not to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unaware."

"The calm of the water speaks a certain wisdom to me, and I want the feeling of that wisdom and that experience to stay."
-- Diane Wilson

"Pigs have about 15,000 taste buds -- about 5,000 more than humans. They also have a great sense of smell and, because of it, they are used to sniffing out truffles in many European countries."

"Do not allow the dog to eat at the table... no matter how good his manners are."

"Some minds are like concrete... all mixed up and permanently set."

"Drive carefully! Remember, it's not only a car than can be recalled by its maker."

"He shall give his angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways."

"Dare all your dreams/ Always believe in yourself/ Uncover hidden talents/ Go on adventures/ Have fun and be happy/ Treasure tiny miracles/ Embrace life/ Reach for the stars"

"The traditional symbol of the Sermon on the Mount, Chi-Rho, represents Christ atop a mountain. Incorporated in the mountain are various symbols representating the basic doctrines of the Sermon on the Mount -- doctrines which form much of the basis of Christianity. Among them are the lilies of the field and the birds of the air, the house built upon a rock, the lamp on a stand, the tree bearing good fruit, and the narrow gate"
-- explication of a stained glass window design in Seeger Chapel, Milligan College

"Just because you don't understand me doesn't mean I have to explain myself."

"You shall judge a man by his foes as well as by his friends."
-- Leaves of Gold compiled by Jo Petty

"I was uncool before uncool was cool."

"To learn and never be filled is wisdom; To teach and never be weary is love."
-- Leaves of Gold compiled by Jo Petty

"A woman always has the last word in an argument. Anything a man says after that is the beginning of a new argument."

"There are two sides to every divorce -- yours and shithead's."

"The woman who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the woman doing it."

"Nothing says I love you like a waggy butt."

"May inspiration fill your heart and hands, run down your legs onto your feet, and cause spontaneous dancing."

"Dear Lord, please put your arm around my shoulders and your hand over my mouth."

"Guests of guests may not bring guests."

"Nothing is more unnerving to the truly conventional than the unashamed misfit."

"Only one more shopping day until tomorrow."

"Success rests in having the courage, endurance and above all the will to be the person you are, however peculiar that may be."

"Conscience is God's presence in man."
-- Leaves of Gold compiled by Jo Petty

"Be gentle. I've never done it with my species before."

"It is as absurd to pretend that one cannot love the same woman always as to pretend that a good artist needs several violins to play a piece of music."
-- Leaves of Gold compiled by Jo Petty

"It's not just a body. It's an adventure."

"The door to the human heart can be opened only from the inside."
-- Leaves of Gold compiled by Jo Petty

"The light of friendship is like the light of phosphorous, seen when all around is dark."
-- Leaves of Gold compiled by Jo Petty

"Who knew whipping guys in my underwear would pay so well."

"Restraint without love is barbarity. Love without restraint commits suicide."
-- Leaves of Gold compiled by Jo Petty

"If a single man achieves the highest kind of love, it will be sufficient to neutralize the hate of millions."
-- Leaves of Gold compiled by Jo Petty

"To save time, let's just assume I'm never wrong."

"Love cannot be wasted. It makes no different where it is bestowed, it always brings in big returns."
-- Leaves of Gold compiled by Jo Petty

"To handle yourself, use your head; to handle others, use your heart."
-- Leaves of Gold compiled by Jo Petty

"Pardon me, but you're standing on my penis."

"The only greatness is unselfish love."
-- Leaves of Gold compiled by Jo Petty

"Creation of woman from the rib of man: She was not made of his head to top him; nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him; but out of his side to be equal with him; under his arm, to be protected; and near his heart to be beloved."
-- Leaves of Gold compiled by Jo Petty

"Shut up, moonbeam, and drink your freaking green tea."

"The love you liberate in your work is the love you keep."
-- Leaves of Gold compiled by Jo Petty

"A friend is a person with whom you dare to be yourself."
-- Leaves of Gold compiled by Jo Petty

"You lost me at 'Hello'"

"A long life is barely enough for a man and a woman to understand each other; and to be understood is to love. The man who understands one woman is qualified to understand pretty well everything.
-- Leaves of Gold compiled by Jo Petty

"Love is not soft like water, it is hard like rock, on which the waves of hatred beat in vain."
-- Leaves of Gold compiled by Jo Petty

"To me every hour of the light and dark is a miracle./ Every cubic inch of space is a miracle."
-- Walt Whitman (1819-1892), American poet, journalist, and essayist. (He is among the most influential and controversial poets in the American literary canon and his verse collection Leaves of Grass is a landmark of American literature.)

"... Einstein also asserted that the mass of a physical object and the energy it contained were in fact interchangeable along the form of E-mc(squared). In essence, Einstein showed that matter was nothing more than a form of light.... a stream of new discoveries began to prove just how mysterious the universe is.... The first new data were produced in quantum physics.... if the nucleus of an atom is visualized to be the size of a grain of salt, then to accurately portray the scale of a real atom, the electrons would have to be hundreds of feet away.... Like light itself, [elementary particles] seemed to act both as waves and as objects with mass, depending on the type of observation the scientists chose.... many noted quantum physicists began to believe that the act of observation and the intention of the scientists directly affected the behavior and existence of these elementary particles...."
-- The Celestine Vision by James Redfield