Quotes from Roland Merullo

But, modest though it was, the building had always felt to Paolo like an anteroom of heaven.

If you want to know why this life is like it is, you should know that it is because of your last life. If you want to know what your future life will be, you should look at the way you are living in this life.

Before leaving the property, Vittoria had left this sketch. For him.

Democracy is beautiful in theory; in practice it is a fallacy. You in America will see that some day. —Benito Mussolini Dictators ride to and fro upon tigers which they dare not dismount. And the tigers are getting hungry. —Winston Churchill

I miss women," he went on. "I miss that kind of intimacy. But I think whatever people do; they do in search of pleasure. Or trying to get rid of pain or fear, which is the same thing, basically. Everything, everything is really about that. Everything is about bringing your mind to a place where it's at peace

We have a tradition in Tibet. Sacred craziness. Men and women who act in a strange way. People think they are fools, but their wisdom, in fact, is more than those we call normal.

In fact, it is the account of an interior voyage, the kind of excursion that's hard to talk about without sounding foolish or annoyingly serene, or like someone who thinks the Great Spirit has singled him out to be the mouthpiece of ultimate truth. If you knew me you'd know that I am none of the above.

We hadn't yet traded freedom for comfort.

JFK was an asylum, a processing plant, a study in chaos—snaking lines, recorded announcements, furious passengers with their taped-up baggage, clerks fielding complaints in the midst of the madness. For the better part of an hour

sour taste of obligation postponed

Isn't the spiritual search, at its essence, a movement toward objectivity?

This life is a dream, my son. For each of us. But, within that dream, we still must act in a way that pleases the Lord, so that, when we awaken beyond the river of death, we shall be rewarded with the peace of His presence. Let the light of goodness guide you in everything you do. Make your difficult voyage the walk of love, and God shall give you an interior peace while you live, and welcome you to eternal peace when your life is finished.

next, showed up for work in the morning, washed the dishes, fed the dog, settled down in front of the TV to gaze at the lives of others, imaginary and real, as we plodded along toward old age. On

It seemed to him that he was seeing Italy without its clothing, naked and crude, stripped of niceties.

perhaps all the trouble in the world has, at its root, our insistence on denying others their full humanity.

You can surrender to the evil or you can find a way to push back against it, that's the choice

womb? . . . I mean . . . does your lineage

Time wore all of them down, administered harsh lessons in humility to even the finest physical specimens.

the image her father liked to present of a famous estate in perfect working order, a famous family without blemish or trouble.

This was the power of evil, he thought before drifting off to sleep. Nothing be actually done to you, just the idea of it, the rumor of it, the sense of the possibility of it. That was enough.

But in the early years, there was the sense that il Duce's ego was a comical thing. He pontificated about the sanctity of family life while openly keeping a young mistress, Claretta Petacci. He bared his chest on the stage while giving a speech at the Pontine Marshes. He stuck out his chin, shouted, boasted, waved his fists, made promises about bringing Italy back to the greatness of ancient Rome.

in the midst of suffering, it was important to remember one thing: everyone suffered. Some more, some less; some now, some later; some in one way, some in another. But no one was exempt. It was, he said, a lesson, not a punishment. She closed her eyes and bowed her head. Some women were given children; others were not. Some women had parents

I am not one of these people who wants everyone to live the way I live. What causes more trouble on our troubled earth than people like that?

Had he been sent to them like a kind of sun, pouring light into the world without asking for anything in return?