“From the time one gets married he tries to improve his wife, but neither of the two improves till death. Instead, if you would have tried to cut vegetables, it would have been done (with success.) So do not try to improve the wife. She may try to improve us [men] but we should not try to reform them.”

“Due to your merit karma, your efforts will bring you success and when the merit karma is expended, your efforts will bring in losses.”

“Your success in worldly life (sansar) is in proportion to your faith and truthfulness!”

“Life would not seem short if we valued time as much as we value money.”

“The calendar is a human invention; time does not exist on the spiritual level.”

“The Lord is much like the air around us. The air is all around us, it is everywhere. Even though we can’t see it, it is there, we know it is there, because we are breathing. The Lord is everywhere too, you can’t see Him, but He is there, we know He is there, because we are breathing. (Page 183)”

“As long as we were living in the spirit we would continue to be blessed”

“Verily I say unto you all: Arise and shine forth, that thy light may be a standard for the nations.”

“Our lives are in constant flux, which generates many predicaments. But when these are faced with a calm and clear mind supported by spiritual practice, they can all be successfully resolved. When our minds are clouded by hatred, selfishness, jealousy, and anger, we lose not only control but also our judgment. At those wild moments, anything can happen, including war. Although the practice of compassion and wisdom is useful to us all, it is especially valuable for those responsible for running national affairs, in whose hands lie the power and opportunity to create a framework for world peace.”

“Praying is a precious privilege.”

“Darkness is not the absence of light. The light will always be there. Darkness only occurs when you move far away from the light.”

“When I was a child and I would listen to my sister’s LPs She was a huge fan and she was so in love with him that she wrote him a letter. I enjoyed seeing my sis so happy about Manilow Mania. I wrote some lyrics based on one of his songs, also thinking of those ships that pass in the night in the city where I was born. Can you guess which one?Anyway, my sister was already unconscious at the hospital when I inserted an earplug so that she could hear some of his songs. It was very low, very mild Manilow, when all of a sudden, in the second cord when he sang “I made it through the rain” in a beat a bit higher her heartbeat which was being monitored played faster. I could see that as a sign that she was listening. I stopped the song and I started Singing one of her songs that she had especially made for my birthday when I turned nine yrs old and I never forgot about that. I could see a little smile coming from the left side of her lips. It was the affirmation I needed. That she was and will always be there for me as I so admired her soul to the bones!”

“If you are honest, people may deceive you. Be honest anyway.If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfishness. Be kind anyway.All the good you do today will be forgotten by others tomorrow. Do good anyway.”

“Writing was a spiritual exercise for my father, the only thing he really believed in.”

“Religions are metaphorical systems that give us bigger containers in which to hold our lives. A spiritual life allows us to move beyond the ego into something more universal. Religious experience carries us outside of clock time into eternal time. We open ourselves into something more complete and beautiful. This bigger vista is perhaps the most magnificent aspect of a religious experience.There is a sense in which Karl Marx was correct when he said that religion is the opiate of the people. However, he was wrong to scoff at this. Religion can give us skills for climbing up on onto a ledge above our suffering and looking down at it with a kind and open mind. This helps us calm down and connect to all of the world’s sufferers. Since the beginning of human time, we have yearned for peace in the face of death, loss, anger and fear. In fact, it is often trauma that turns us toward the sacred, and it is the sacred that saves us.”