get away from it all

People try to get away from it all – to the country, to the beach, to the mountains. You always wish that you could too. Which is idiotic: you can get away from it anytime you like.

By going within. 

Nowhere you can go is more peaceful – more free of interruptions – than you own soul. Especially if you have other things to rely on. An instant’s recollection and there it is: complete tranquility. And by tranquility I mean a kind of harmony.

So keep getting away from it all – like that. Renew yourself. But keep it brief and basic. A quick visit should be enough to ward off all <…> and send you back ready to face what awaits you.

Marcus Aurelius

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. Modern Library. 2003. P.37, Book 4, #3. Also see The Internet Classics Archive | The Meditations by Marcus Aurelius (mit.edu)

come to the sacrament table

We want every Latter-day Saint to come to the sacrament table because it is the place for self-investigation, for self-inspection, where we may learn to rectify our course and to make right our own lives, bringing ourselves into harmony with the teachings of the Church and with our brethren and sisters. 

Elder Melvin J. Ballard, in Bryant S. Hinckley, Sermons and Missionary Services of Melvin Joseph Ballard (1949), 150, as quoted in L. Tom Perry, "The Sabbath and the Sacrament." General Conference April 2011

the language of peace and respect

In prayer, we are... given the possibility to learn the language of peace and respect, strengthening that seed of peace that God himself has sown in men's hearts, and which constitutes, beyond differences of race, culture and religion, the most profound longing of the human being... At the same time, in prayer we can find new spiritual strength so as not to be defeated by the difficulties and snares of evil, and not to fail in the necessary path of dialogue, which definitively removes misunderstandings and suspicions, and allows us to continue building, as brothers and members of the same human family, the path of harmonious coexistence.


Pope Benedict XVI,  a message sent on his behalf by his secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, to the International Meeting of Prayer for Peace, under way through Tuesday in Barcelona, Spain (Oct. 4, 2010), as quoted in Catholic.net.

the collector gets the story

Tarkington leaned forward, pointed at an odd-looking pot on a desk by the wall. "See that image of the snake on that ceramic there? That's a Supai pot. But why is that snake pink? It's a rattler, and they're not that color. Well, I guess they are in one deep part of the Grand Canyon. There's a very rare and officially endangered species down there in Havasupai territory, and they have a great story in their mythology about how it came to be pink. And that's going to make that pot a lot more valuable to the fellow who collects it."

He stared at Leaphorn, looking for some sign of agreement.

"I know that's true," Leaphorn said. "But I'm not sure I understand why."

"Because the collector gets the story along with the pot. People say why is that snake pink. He explains. That makes him an authority." Tarkington laughed. "You Navajos don't practice that one-upmanship game like we do. You fellows who stay in that harmony philosophy."


Tony Hillerman, The Shape Shifter. 2006. p.35, 36