“Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for a kindness.”

Expressing the moral possibility present in every human encounter · Prose remark, commonly attributed to Sandburg

• Friendship
• Hope

“Life is like an onion; you peel off one layer at a time and sometimes you weep.”

A wry image of experience as gradual, revealing and occasionally painful · Prose remark, commonly attributed to Sandburg

• Despair
• Life

“A baby is God's opinion that life should go on.”

Finding hope and continuity in new life · Prose remark, source often cited without precise reference

• Childhood
• Hope

“Slang is a language that rolls up its sleeves, spits on its hands, and goes to work.”

Celebrating the vitality and practicality of everyday speech · Prose remark, commonly associated with The American Songbag

• Art
• Language

“Poetry is an echo asking a shadow to dance.”

Presenting poetry as an evocative exchange between sound, image and imagination · Essay or prose remark, source often cited without precise reference

• Art
• Poetry