Echoes

What drove me? I think most creative people want to express appreciation for being able to take advantage of the work that's been done by others before us. Everything I do depends on other members of our species and the shoulders that we stand on. And a lot of us want to contribute something back to our species and to add something to the flow. It's about trying to express something in the only way that most of us know how — because we can't write Bob Dylan songs or Tom Stoppard plays. We try to use the talents we do have to express our deep feelings, to show our appreciation of all the contributions that came before us, and to add something to that flow. That's what has driven me.

The inhabitants of these islands are the most hospitable people I have ever encountered; they give freely of what they possess, asking nothing in return.

True glory consists in doing what deserves to be written, in writing what deserves to be read, and in so living as to make the world happier for our living in it.

The best portion of a good man's life is his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and of love.

Whoever gives reverence receives reverence.

We are here to add what we can to, not to get what we can from, Life.

When you arise in the morning think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love.

Art is the symbol of the two noblest human efforts: to construct and to refrain from destruction.

Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.

A gift to those who contemplate the wonders of cities and the marvels of traveling.

It is sometimes easier to make the world a better place than to prove you have made the world a better place.

How selfish soever man may be supposed, there are evidently some principles in his nature, which interest him in the fortune of others, and render their happiness necessary to him, though he derives nothing from it except the pleasure of seeing it.

There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and be lost.

It is a partnership in all science; a partnership in all art; a partnership in every virtue and in all perfection. As the ends of such a partnership cannot be obtained in many generations, it becomes a partnership not only between those who are living, but between those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are to be born.

If the public thought elevates you above the generality of men, let the other humble you, and hold you in a perfect equality with all mankind, for this is your natural condition.

Every individual matters. Every individual has a role to play. Every individual makes a difference.

When one cultivates to the utmost the principles of his nature, and exercises them on the principle of reciprocity, he is not far from the path. What you do not like when done to yourself, do not do to others.

Reaching the summit of a mountain gives great satisfaction, but nothing for me has been more rewarding in life than the result of our climb on Everest, when we have devoted ourselves to the welfare of our Sherpa friends.

Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.

There are flowers everywhere for those who want to see them.

I used to envy the father of our race, dwelling as he did in contact with the new-made fields and plants of Eden; but I do so no more, because I have discovered that I also live in "creation's dawn." The morning stars still sing together, and the world, not yet half made, becomes more beautiful every day.

I grow little of the food I eat, and of the little I do grow I did not breed or perfect the seeds. I do not make any of my own clothing. I speak a language I did not invent or refine. I did not discover the mathematics I use. I am protected by freedoms and laws I did not conceive of or legislate, and do not enforce or adjudicate. I am moved by music I did not create myself. When I needed medical attention, I was helpless to help myself survive. I did not invent the transistor, the microprocessor, object oriented programming, or most of the technology I work with. I love and admire my species, living and dead, and am totally dependent on them for my life and well being.

Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them.

It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important.