Quotes

“To see people in terms of pathology or to see them in terms of competence is a matter of choice rather than one of truth.”  De Jong & Kim Berg, 2002

“Washing one’s hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral.”  Paulo Freire

“To be true as the tide, free as a windswell, joyful and loving in letting it be.”  John Denver

“If you design a system to do something specific, don’t be surprised if it does it. If you run an educational system based on standardisation and conformity that suppresses individuality, imagination, and creativity, don’t be surprised if that’s what it does.”  Ken Robinson

“Come be how you want to, and see how bright we shine.”  WICKED Musical

“Women have always been an equal part of the past. Just not an equal part of history.”  Gloria Steinem

“If human evolution is not a mistake, it’s only because great thinkers eventually learn to stop thinking.”  Dr. Bob Jacobs

From the movie version of The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck novel – 1940).  This is what Tom Joad (Henry Fonda) tells his mother as he says good bye for the final time, and she knows she will never see him again:

“A fellow ain’t got a soul of his own, just little piece of a big soul, the one big soul that belongs to everybody, then… Then it don’t matter. I’ll be all around in the dark – I’ll be everywhere. Wherever you can look – wherever there’s a fight, so hungry people can eat, I’ll be there. Wherever there’s a cop beatin’ up a guy, I’ll be there. I’ll be in the way guys yell when they’re mad. I’ll be in the way kids laugh when they’re hungry and they know supper’s ready, and when the people are eatin’ the stuff they raise and livin’ in the houses they build – I’ll be there, too.”

“You can change everything without changing anything.”  Dr. Bob Jacobs

“Every child is precious. The Lotus Sutra tells the parable of the three kinds of medicinal herbs and two kinds of trees. There are many different kinds of plants; their shape, size and nature come in myriad varieties. Some plants grow fast while others take time to mature. In this parable, however, the heavens rain upon all the plants equally, nurturing their growth. And the plants blossom and bear fruits according to their own unique character. This parable symbolizes the Buddha’s vast compassion to nuture all living beings despite their differences. All children are different; each possess his or her wonderful unique quality. We must pour upon all children our great love and compassion so that each child can blossom, true to his or her unique quality.”  Daisaku Ikeda

“History is written by those who have hanged heroes.”  Braveheart Film

“Everybody is a genius.  But if you judge a fish by its’ ability to climb a tree, it will live its’ whole life believing it is stupid.”   Albert Einstein

 

No One Else – By Elaine Larson

Someone else can tell you how to multiply by three
And someone else can tell you how to spell Schenectady
And someone else can tell you how to ride a two-wheeled bike
But no one else, no, no one else can tell you what to like

An engineer can tell you how to run a railroad train
A map can tell you where to find the capital of Spain
A book can tell you all the names of every star above
But no one else, no, no one else can tell you who to love

Your aunt Louise can tell you how to plant a pumpkin seed
Your cousin Frank can tell you how to catch a centipede
Your mom and dad can tell you how to brush between each meal
But no one else, no, no one else can tell you how to feel

For how you feel is how you feel
And all the whole world through
No one else, no, no one else
Knows that as well as you!

The Laws of God, The Laws of Man By A.E. Housman

The laws of God, the laws of man,

He may keep that will and can;

Not I: let God and man decree

Laws for themselves and not for me;

And if my ways are not as theirs

Let them mind their own affairs.

Their deeds I judge and much condemn,

Yet when did I make laws for them?

Please yourselves, say I, and they

Need only look the other way.

But no, they will not; they must still

Wrest their neighbor to their will,

And make me dance as they desire

With jail and gallows and hell-fire.

And how am I to face the odds

Of man’s bedevilment and God’s?

I, a stranger and afraid

In a world I never made.