“Ultimately, it's not about meditation or belief in some scripture or religion, it's about flowing with the river of life, it's about living with compassion and gratitude.”

“All moral doctrine, all practical suggestions about how we ought to live, depend on some belief about what human nature is like.”

Mary Midgley (1919–2018) British philosopher and ethicist

“I was too busy fighting the river to worry about adjusting my beliefs in accordance to reality.”

Patricia Briggs book River Marked

“Always there is something worth saying
about glory, about gratitude.”

Mary Oliver (1935–2019) American writer

“Religion asks questions about morals, whereas science just asks questions about the natural world. But when people try to use religion to address the natural world, science pushes back on it, and religion has to accommodate the results. Beliefs can be permanent, but beliefs can also be flexible. Personally, if I find out my belief is wrong, I change my mind. I think that's a good way to live.”

Lisa Randall (1962) American theoretical physicist and an expert on particle physics and cosmology

“If you and I are to live religious lives, it mustn't be that we talk a lot about religion, but that our manner of life is different. It is my belief that only if you try to be helpful to other people will you in the end find your way to God.”

Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951) Austrian-British philosopher

“Although the insights we can have in meditation tell us nothing about the origins of the universe, they do confirm some well-established truths about the human mind: our conventional sense of self is an illusion; positive emotions, such as compassion and patience, are teachable skills; and the way we think directly influences our experience of the world.”

Sam Harris (1967) American author, philosopher and neuroscientist

“I’m not sentimental about anything. Life flows by, and you flow with it or you don’t. Move on and move out.”

Gore Vidal (1925–2012) American writer

“Ultimately, this appointment is not about me; it is about Jesus Christ, and about how we, as living members of the body of Christ, bring him to the world by the way we live out our baptismal vocation with love.”

Anthony Randazzo (1966) Australian bishop

“Religion is about turning untested belief into unshakable truth through the power of institutions and the passage of time.”

Richard Dawkins (1941) English ethologist, evolutionary biologist and author