Michio Kaku, physicist

"Did God have a mother?" Children, when told that God made the heavens and the earth, innocently ask whether God had a mother. This deceptively simple question has stumped the elders of the church and embarrassed the finest theologians, precipitating some of the thorniest theological debates over the centuries. All the great religions have elaborate mythologies surrounding the divine act of Creation, but none of them adequately confronts the logical paradoxes inherent in the question that even children ask. -Michio Kaku, physicist (b. 1947)

As brilliant as he is in physics, I think he has not really looked into the subject he is pontificating on here. Over the two thousand years of Christian theology, the nature of God, including this aspect, has been deeply pondered and the paradoxes confronted. But perhaps it is just that he can't get out of the materialist box.

Douglas Adams, satirist (1952-201)

I refuse to answer that question on the grounds that I don't know the answer. -Douglas Adams, satirist (1952-2001)

Well done! Unfortunately, not everyone takes that view.

Studs Terkel, author

"Most of us, like the assembly line worker, have jobs that are too small for our spirit." -- Studs Terkel

None of us has a job that is big enough for our spirits, because our spirits were created for God. Our worship sometimes comes close to being completely fulfilling, but only in eternity will we be completely satisfied.

Anita Roddick

"The end result of kindness is that it draws people to you." -- Anita Roddick
A good reminder for personal evangelism, although kindness is an end in itself.

John Locke

"A sound mind in a sound body is a short but full description of a happy state in this world." -- John Locke
Not such a full description. Unless one has a sound soul as well the happiness is illusory.

Ivan Goncharov, novelist

It is a trick among the dishonest to offer sacrifices that are not needed, or not possible, to avoid making those that are required. -Ivan Goncharov, novelist (1812-1891)
Such a ploy is maddening to those who are wise to the trick because to protest against the offer can appear ungenerous at least, but not to object can lead to worse consequences.

Francois, duc de La Rochefoucauld, moralist

Perfect valor is to behave, without witnesses, as one would act were all the world watching. -Francois, duc de La Rochefoucauld, moralist (1613-1680)
This assumes that one would always act with valor when all the world was watching. In these days, however, valor is not universally applauded, in fact often ridiculed, so that it seems that in most contexts one is more likely to act with valor when no one is watching. It is a sad commentary on our society.