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When you forgive, you love. And when you love, God's light shines on you..

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Alex here. (...) Ron, I really enjoy all the help you have given me and the times we spent together. I hope that you will not be too depressed by our ...more

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I read somewhere... how important it is in life not necessarily to be strong, but to feel strong... to measure yourself at least once.

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Mr. Franz, I think careers are a 20th century invention and I don't want one.

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From elementary school through high school, my siblings and I were hectored to excel in every class, to win medals in science fairs, to be chosen prin...more

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The revelation that he was merely human, and frightfully so, was beyond my power to forgive.

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I thought climbing the Devil's Thumb would fix all that was wrong with my life. In the end, of course, it changed almost nothing. But I came to apprec...more

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I'm going to paraphrase Thoreau here... rather than love, than money, than faith, than fame, than fairness... give me truth.

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Unlike Muir and Thoreau, McCandless went into the wilderness not primarily to ponder nature or the world at large but, rather, to explore the inner co...more

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It is easy when you are young to believe that what you desire is no less than what you deserve, to assume that if you want something badly enough it i...more

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The sea's only gifts are harsh blows, and occasionally the chance to feel strong. Now I don't know much about the sea, but I do know that that's the w...more

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So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life...more

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Happiness [is] only real when shared

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It is hardly unusual for a young man to be drawn to a pursuit considered reckless by his elders; engaging in risky behavior is a rite of passage in ou...more

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When Alex left for Alaska," Franz remembers, "I prayed. I asked God to keep his finger on the shoulder of that one; I told him that boy was special. B...more