Quotations

"When motherhood becomes the fruit of a deep yearning, not the result of ignorance or accident, its children will become the foundation of a new race."

— Margaret Sanger, American nurse and activist, born September 14, 1879

"People are flowers. Music is water. Musicians are the hose."

— Carlos Santana, Mexican-American musician, born 1947

"Surrender your whole being to a note, and gravity disappears with one chord."

— Carlos Santana, Mexican-American musician, born 1947

"Your wrinkles either show that you're nasty, cranky, and senile, or that you're always smiling."

— Carlos Santana, Mexican-American musician, born 1947

"Live up to your convictions. You walk in grace or you walk in fear. You can't have it both ways."

— Carlos Santana, Mexican-American musician, born 1947

"Everything is a battlefield. If you fight with anger, you are part of the problem. If you fight with joy, you're part of the solution."

— Carlos Santana, Mexican-American musician, born 1947

"There is divinity in your DNA. Live your light."

— Carlos Santana, Mexican-American musician, born 1947

"Happiness is not a destination or an experience. It's a decision."

— Carlos Santana, Mexican-American musician, born 1947

"You cannot behave appropriately, unless you perceive correctly. Once you perceive you are a beam of Light, that comes from the mind of God, you will carry yourself differently."

— Carlos Santana, Mexican-American musician, born 1947

"The most valuable possession you can own is an open heart. The most powerful weapon you can be is an instrument of peace."

— Carlos Santana, Mexican-American musician, born 1947

"Perhaps it is the language that chooses the writers it needs, making use of them so that each might express a tiny part of what it is."

— Jose Saramago, Portuguese writer, born November 16, 1922

"If you walk down the street and see someone in a box, you have a choice. That person is either the other and you're fearful of them, or that person is an extension of your family. And that makes you at home in that world and not fearful. So really it's very self-serving."

— Susan Sarandon, American actress, born October 4, 1946

"What is it that dies? A log of wood dies to become a few planks. The planks die to become a chair. The chair dies to become a piece of firewood, and the firewood dies to become ash. You give different names to the different shapes the wood takes, but the basic substance is there always. If we could always remember this, we would never worry about the loss of anything. We never lose anything; we never gain anything. By such discrimination we put an end to unhappiness."

— Satchidananda Saraswati, Indian-American spiritual master, died August 19, 2002

"I feel we don’t really need scriptures. The entire life is an open book, a scripture. Read it. Learn while digging a pit or chopping some wood or cooking some food. If you can’t learn from your daily activities, how are you going to understand the scriptures?"

— Satchidananda Saraswati, Indian-American spiritual master, born December 22, 1914