Quotations

"Being is a spiritual proposition. Gaining is a material act. Traditionally, American Indians have always attempted to be the best people they could. Part of that spiritual process was and is to give away wealth, to discard wealth in order not to gain."

— Russell Means, American activist, born 1929

"We Indians do not teach that there is only one god. We know that everything has power, including the most inanimate, inconsequential things. Stones have power. A blade of grass has power. Trees and clouds and all our relatives in the insect and animal world have power. We believe we must respect that power by acknowledging it's presence. By honoring the power of the spirits in that way, it becomes our power as well. It protects us."

— Russell Means, American activist, born 1929

"Just imagine, the thousands and thousands of concerts that take place every single day, all over the world. And the positive effect that they would have on the people listening. Now imagine a world without this. This void is unthinkable."

— Zubin Mehta, Indian conductor, born 1936

"I would convert to Judaism if the operation didn't hurt so much."

— Zubin Mehta, Indian conductor, born 1936

"After conducting Wagner, Beethoven's triple concerto is like taking an Alka Seltzer."

— Zubin Mehta, Indian conductor, born 1936

"In truth, I became a conductor because deep down I wanted to conduct Brahms's four symphonies and Richard Strauss's tone poems."

— Zubin Mehta, Indian conductor, born 1936

"Architecture which enters into a symbiosis with light does not merely create form in light, by day and at night, but allow light to become form."

— Richard Meier, American architect, born 1934

"Asking why mindfulness works is like asking why detergent works. We just know if you wash something in the stuff, when it comes out, it’s clean."

— Lucia Meijer, Linking Awareness Facilitator

"We do not rejoice in victories. We rejoice when a new kind of cotton is grown and when strawberries bloom in Israel."

— Golda Meir, First female Prime Minister of Israel, born 1898

"Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people's hats off - then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can."

— Herman Melville, American novelist, born 1819

"What is an atheist, but one who does not, or will not, see in the universe a ruling principle of love; and what a misanthrope, but one who does not, or will not, see in man a ruling principle of kindness?"

— Herman Melville, American novelist, born 1819

"It is not down on any map; true places never are."

— Herman Melville, American novelist, born 1819

"Ignorance is the parent of fear."

— Herman Melville, American novelist, born 1819

"Good photos to good people and from a good person."

— Rebecca Menashe, American artist, born 1979 (at age five, when asked for a byline on her father's work)