Passages

Words that make me feel something.

He wrote later that his favorite phrase in American English was “Go ahead,” because it suggested a sense of “absolute freedom” that in any other language lost the element of directness it had when an American said it.

– Tom Gjelten, Bacardi and the Long Fight for Cuba

Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every “superstar,” every “supreme leader,” every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there–on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

– Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot

To my Charley on his wedding day –

…Here is what you are going to find out about marriage: you have to work at it together. And you have to love three things. You have to love:

What I mean by the last one is, there may be times that you fight, and sometimes you and Catherine won’t even like each other. But those are the times you have to love your marriage. It’s like a third party. Look at your wedding photos. Look at any memories you’ve made. And if you believe in those memories, they will pull you back together.

I’m very proud of you today, Charley. I am putting this in your tuxedo pocket because I know how you lose things.

I love you every day!

Mom

– Mitch Albom, For One More Day