My reading list grows exponentially. Every time I read a book, it’ll mention three other books I feel I have to read. It’s like a particularly relentless series of pop-up ads.
I’ve rarely said the word “Lord,” unless it’s followed by “of the Rings.
Behavior shapes emotions.
Ezekiel and his fellow prophets have become my heroes. They were fearless. They literalized metaphors. They turned their lives into protest pieces. They proved that, in the name of truth, sometimes you can’t be afraid to take a left turn from polite society and look absurd.
You tell them you have a hunger and a thirst. You don’t sit at the same table but you have a hunger and a thirst.
As I was passing this man on the street, he looked at me, snarled, and gave me the finger. What was going through his mind? Does he hate shepherds? Or religion? Did he just read Richard Dawkins’s book?
It’s joyous,” he says. “If I save someone from breaking a commandment, it gives me a little high.” He pumps his fist. “I never took drugs, but I imagine this is what it feels like.
Like God and Duane Reade drugstores, toxins are everywhere.
I’m not a big scatology fan, unlike my sons, who can amuse themselves for an entire afternoon by repeating the phrase ‘crocodile fart.’ So I’ll spare you from an overabundance of detail in this chapter. This chapter will be somewhat soft focus, like the TV camera in a Barbra Streisand interview.
As grandma said, if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.
Unconditional love is an illogical notion, but such a great and powerful one.
I’ve started to look at life differently. When you’re thanking God for every little you – every meal, every time you wake up, every time you take a sip of water – you can’t help but be more thankful for life itself, for the unlikely and miraculous fact that you exist at all.
I always thought the name of Utah’s major newspaper was some sort of weird misspelling of the word “desert.” But no, Deseret is the “land of the honeybee,” according to the Book of Mormon. I guess I should have figured they would have caught a typo in the masthead after 154 years.
I’m all for cafeteria religion. I think there’s nothing wrong with cafeterias – I’ve had some great meals at cafeterias. I’ve also had some horrible meals, so it’s important to pick the right things. Take a heaping helping of compassion and mercy, and leave the intolerance on the table.
The key to making healthy decisions is to respect your future self. Honor him or her. Treat him or her like you would treat a friend or a loved one.
A 2002 Oxford study showed counting sheep actually delays the onset of sleep. It’s just too dull to stop us from worrying about jobs and spouses.
Behavior shapes beliefs.
I’d recommend learning to accept rejection. Become friends with rejection. Be nice to rejection, because it’s a huge part of being a writer, no matter where you are in your career.
I’m not a fan of ‘write what you know.’ If you don’t know, find out. I knew nothing about the Bible before I started writing ‘The Year of Living Biblically.’ That was kind of the point – to learn.