Gerry Spence: "I would rather have..."

"I would rather have a mind opened by wonder, than one closed by belief."

—Gerry Spence

Lewis Carroll: "There's no use trying..."

"There's no use trying," Alice said. "One can't believe impossible things."

"I daresay you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."

—Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

W. Somerset Maugham: "If you will act..."

"If you will act as if you believed, belief will be granted to you.
If you pray with doubt, but pray with sincerity, your doubt will be dispelled.
If you will surrender yourself to the beauty of liturgy, the power which over the human spirit has been proved by the experience of ages, peace will descend upon you."

—W. Somerset Maugham, The Razor's Edge

Dave Matthews: "Tell me everything will..."

"Tell me everything will be okay
If I just stay on my knees and keep praying
Believing in something
Tell me everything is all taken care of
By those qualified to take care of it all

Wake up sleepy head
I think the sun's a little brighter today
Smile and watch the icicles melt away and see the waters rising
Summer's here to stay
And that sweet summer breeze will blow forever
Go down to the shore, kick off your shoes, dive in the empty ocean

One day, do you think we'll wake up
In a world on it's way to getting better?
And if so can you tell me
How?

I have been thinking that lately the blood is increasing
The tourniquets not keeping hold
In spite of our twisting
Though we would like to believe we are
We are not in control
Though we would love to believe

Wake up sleepy head
I think the sun's a little brighter today
Smile and watch the icicles melt away and see the water rising
Summer's here to stay
And those sweet summer girls will dance forever
Go down to the shore, kick off your shoes, dive in the empty ocean"

—Dave Matthews, "Dive In" from Big Whiskey and the Groogrux King

C. S. Lewis: "Once the feet are..."

"Once the feet are put right, all the rest of him will follow."

—C. S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

Gregory Maguire: "And a puzzle is..."

"And a puzzle is for the piecing together – especially for the young who still believe it can be done."

—Gregory Maguire, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister

Katherine Rosman: "...I believe that the..."

"... I believe that the universe has a way of taking you where you need to go..."

—Katherine Rosman, If You Knew Suzy

Katherine Rosman: "I guess that's the..."

"I guess that's the definition of faith: believing in something not because you can absolutely prove its truth but because it gives you comfort."

—Katherine Rosman, If You Knew Suzy

Katherine Rosman: "I had become less..."

"I had become less cynical and more like the sort of person who believes that if you are open to finding meaning - which is almost always an exercise in faith and almost never an exercise in certainty - you might find meaning."

—Katherine Rosman, If You Knew Suzy

Matthew Cody: "Others might have dismissed..."

"Others might have dismissed what they saw as a hallucination, but I... well, I've always believed in the impossible."

—Matthew Cody, Powerless, (p183)