He who receives ideas from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine receives light without darkening me.

Thomas Jefferson quoted by Chris Anderson in FREE: THE FUTURE OF A RADICAL PRICE.

You may be sure the Landlord has brought you the shortest way: though I confess it would look an odd journey on a map.

C.S. Lewis. THE PILGRIM'S REGRESS.

It all happened not of necessity, not inevitably, but gratuitously, freely, hilariously....

The tragic is the inevitable. The comic is the unforeseeable...

Is it possible, I wonder, to say that it is only when you hear the Gospel as a wild and marvelous joke that you really hear it at all?

Blessed is he who is not offended that no man receives what he deserves but vastly more. Blessed is he who gets that joke, who sees that miracle.

Frederick Buechner. TELLING THE TRUTH: THE GOSPEL AS TRAGEDY, COMEDY & FAIRY TALE.

The book of Ecclesiastes is a conclusion, not a possible point of departure....

The sayings of the wise are a goad: the goad enters the hide of the ox and makes it advance; the word of the wise makes us advance, and does not merely stir up vain and brilliant ideas....

It is vanity to publish a book amidst the present Niagra of paper, not to mention ten thousand times more "information" coming from ten other media. What could be the point?.... I have no explanation or justification.... I do have available the exhortation of another part of Ecclesiastes: "All your hands find to do with the strength you have, do it" (9:10 JE).

Jacques Ellul. THE REASON FOR BEING: A MEDITATION ON ECCLESIASTES.

A Soldier's Prayer (U.S. Civil War)

I asked God for strength, that I might achieve,
I was made weak, that I might learn humbly to obey.
I asked for health, that I might do greater things,
I was given infirmity, that I might do better things.
I asked for riches, that I might be happy,
I was given poverty, that I might be wise.
I asked for power, that I might have the praise of men,
I was given weakness, that I might feel the need of God.
I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life,
I was given life, that I might enjoy all things.
I got nothing I asked for --
but everything I had hoped for.

Almost, in spite of myself, my unspoken prayers were answered.
I am, among all men, most richly blessed."