The function of freedom is to free someone else.—Toni Morrison

You will continue to suffer if you react emotionally to everything that is said to you. True power comes from stepping back and observing with logic. When words control you, others control you. Breathe and let things pass.—Bruce Lee

YouTube video by The Tale Tinkerer

In a culture that pushes us to focus not on what we can give, but on what we can take, what we tend to take is everything for granted.—Andrea Gibson

He who accumulates books, accumulates dreams, and if you have many dreams, you are still young even when you are eighty years old.—Ugo Ojetti

I don’t want an easy faith, I want a brave faith. I want a faith that takes risks, that asks questions, that experiments, that evolves, that thrives amidst change and obeys amidst doubt. I want a faith that engages both my heart and my head, a faith that operates out of love, not fear, a faith that leaps when it needs to and crawls when it has to.—Rachel Held Evans

Peace demands the most heroic labor and the most difficult sacrifice. It demands greater heroism than war. It demands greater fidelity to the truth and a much more perfect purity of conscience.—Thomas Merton

Every person bears the divine image, and so when anyone is injured, the heart of God is wounded.—John Calvin

Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly, now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.—The Talmud

Since I’m not sure of the address to which to send my gratitude, I put it out there in everything I do.—Michael J. Fox

Every positive thought we pass between us makes room for more light.—John Lewis

Do not accept anything as truth that lacks love, and do not accept anything as love which lacks truth. One without the other is a destructive lie.—Edith Stein

I no longer want to have anything to do with love that forgets to be grateful.—Thomas Merton

Where there is great love there are always miracles.—Willa Cather

Ah, kindness. What a simple way to tell another struggling soul that there is love to be found in this world. —A. A. Malee

ALT: a man in a white shirt is standing in a room with showtime written on the bottom

Hold fast to dreamsFor if dreams dieLife is a broken-winged birdThat cannot fly. Hold fast to dreamsFor when dreams goLife is a barren fieldFrozen with snow.—Langston Hughes

YouTube video by languagejones

The purpose of human life is to serve, to show compassion and the will to help others.—Albert Schweitzer

You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.—Jane Goodall

We do not want to be beginners. But let us be convinced of the fact that we will never be anything else but beginners, all our life!—Thomas Merton

All of us have to learn how to invent our lives, make them up, imagine them. We need to be taught these skills; we need guides to show us how. If we don’t, our lives get made up for us by other people.—Ursula K. Le Guin

No "scare quotes" necessary. Dr. Andrew Henry is a specialist in magical practices in late antiquity and has some opinions about how our favorite fantasy franchises handle magic. It's well worth a watch!

I just finished listening to the audiobook of The Titan's Curse, the third book in the Percy Jackson book series and thus the basis for the third season of the Disney series. Here are some random (spoiler-free) thoughts. There is a surprising divergence from book 2 in the final episode of season 2 of Percy Jackson and the Olympians…

True wealth is not measured in money or status or power. It is measured in the legacy we leave behind for those we love and those we inspire.—César Chávez

Reading shaped my dreams, and more reading helped me make my dreams come true.—Ruth Bader Ginsburg

ALT: a jockey is riding a horse on a race track with the words `` derby time '' written below him .

Thanks to Nellie Thorne for her review of Children of Pride. It’s nice to know that my first novel is still finding an audience as it comes up on its twelfth anniversary! In part: Overall, this is a beautifully crafted portal fantasy that balances adventure, mystery, and heart. It’s the kind of story that reminds you why this genre is so enduring, because when it’s done well, it feels like rediscovering wonder itself.

Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy.—Thomas Merton

We have flown the air like birds and swum the sea like fishes, but have yet to learn the simple act of walking the earth like brothers.—Martin Luther King Jr.

In the Caretaker Trilogy, the Big Four Bridge, formerly affectionately known as “the bridge to nowhere” before it was repurposed for pedestrians, hides an entrance to the domain of the Merlady, the supernatural gangster who rules from this part of the Ohio River.

It is not easy to keep silent when silence is a lie.—Victor Hugo

Love is our true destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone… We find it with another.—Thomas Merton

As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light of meaning in the darkness of mere being.—Carl Jung

What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.—Henry D. Haskins

All human nature vigorously resists grace because grace changes us and the change is painful.—Flannery O’Connor

You don’t have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.—Ray Bradbury

Indifference is the one thing that makes the angels weep.—William James

The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts.—Marcus Aurelius

On this Black Friday, I'd like to simply remind you that Bookshop.org is a fine way to buy books while supporting local bookstores. If that's something you'd be interested in doing.