At Home in the World is the story of a young woman raised in some difficult circumstances and how she survives. It tells a story of redemption not victimhood.

Ancient recipients of instant news probably couldn't do very much about it for instance. Xerxes would still need three months to get his army together and he might not get home for years.

Just touching that old tree was truly moving to me because when you touch these trees you have such a sense of the passage of time of history. It's like you're touching the essence the very substance of life.

To those who have chosen the profession of medicine a knowledge of chemistry and of some branches of natural history and indeed of several other departments of science affords useful assistance.

The current state of knowledge is a moment in history changing just as rapidly as the state of knowledge in the past has ever changed and in many instances more rapidly.

Part of what I loved - and love - about being around older people is the tangible sense of history they embody. I'm interested in military history for instance because both my grandfathers fought in World War II. I'm interested in writing because one of those grandfathers wrote books.

Through all of history mankind has ingested psychedelic substances. Those substances exist to put you in touch with spirits beyond yourself with the creator with the creative impulse of the planet.

I am totally fascinated by people and our history as I understand and continue to explore it. People have so much to give and so far to go and yet we have given and gone a great distance. It's really just interesting to ask: why not? And see where that takes me.

The history of progress is written in the blood of men and women who have dared to espouse an unpopular cause as for instance the black man's right to his body or woman's right to her soul.

The history of liberty is a history of resistance.

I am what time circumstance history have made of me certainly but I am also much more than that. So are we all.

There are no extraordinary men... just extraordinary circumstances that ordinary men are forced to deal with.

The truth is that stress doesn't come from your boss your kids your spouse traffic jams health challenges or other circumstances. It comes from your thoughts about these circumstances.

Optimism is not inherently a superior way of viewing the world. Certainly doctors will say it might be better for one's physical health to be an optimist. But morally speaking it may not be appropriate in certain circumstances.

The concern right now is that families are paying for insurance or getting insurance from their employer and trusting that health care will be available for their families. In too many instances now the care they need isn't available.

It has pleased and interested me to see how I could get along under difficult circumstances and with so much discomfort but as I say I was not sent out here to improve my temper or my health or to make me more content with my good things in the East.

And under the existing circumstances I understand there are situations where people indeed need care and need services but I believe in America that the majority of those people are getting those services under situations and circumstances that are afforded to them by their health care providers and their state government.

I'm an inherently happy person. It comes from the inside which means you can achieve happiness under any circumstance.

I have to keep reminding myself: If you give your life to God he doesn't promise you happiness and that everything will go well. But he does promise you peace. You can have peace and joy even in bad circumstances.

The secret of happiness is the determination to be happy always rather than wait for outer circumstances to make one happy.

The greater part of our happiness or misery depends on our dispositions and not our circumstances.

If all our happiness is bound up entirely in our personal circumstances it is difficult not to demand of life more than it has to give.

I am determined to be cheerful and happy in whatever situation I may find myself. For I have learned that the greater part of our misery or unhappiness is determined not by our circumstance but by our disposition.

There are goods so opposed that we cannot seize both but by too much prudence may pass between them at too great a distance to reach either.