{"author":"Will Schwalbe","author_id":"Will+Schwalbe","total_quotes":27,"quotes":[{"text":"Reading and naps, two of life's greatest pleasures, go especially well together.","author":"Will Schwalbe","tags":["naps","reading"],"id":10072,"author_id":"Will+Schwalbe"},{"text":"...Mindfulness - it isn't a trick or a gimmick. It's being present in the moment. When I'm with you, I'm with you. Right now. That's all. No more and no less.","author":"Will Schwalbe","tags":["mindfulness"],"id":28626,"author_id":"Will+Schwalbe"},{"text":"Books are the most powerful tool in the human arsenal, that reading all kinds of books, in whatever format you choose - electronic (even though that wasn't for her) or printed, or audio - is the grandest entertainment, and also is how you take part in human conversation.","author":"Will Schwalbe","tags":["books","mankind"],"id":30880,"author_id":"Will+Schwalbe"},{"text":"It’s cruelty that gets to me. Still, it’s important to read about cruelty.“Why is it important?” Because when you read about it, it’s easier to recognize. That was always the hardest thing in the refugee camps—to hear the stories of the people who had been raped or mutilated or forced to watch a parent or a sister or a child be raped or killed. It’s very hard to come face-to-face with such cruelty. But people can be cruel in lots of ways, some very subtle. I think that’s why we all need to read about it. I think that’s one of the amazing things about Tennessee Williams’s plays. He was so attuned to cruelty—the way Stanley treats Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire. It starts with asides and looks and put-downs. There are so many great examples from Shakespeare—when Goneril torments King Lear or the way Iago speaks to Othello. And what I love about Dickens is the way he presents all types of cruelty. You need to learn to recognize these things right from the start. Evil almost always starts with small cruelties.","author":"Will Schwalbe","tags":["cruelty"],"id":71994,"author_id":"Will+Schwalbe"},{"text":"Of course you could do more - you can always do more, and you should do more - but still, the important things is to do what you can, whenever you can. You just do your best, and that's all you can do. Too many people use the excuse that they don't think they can do enough, so they decide they don't have to to do anything. There's never a good excuse for not doing anything - even if it's just to sign something, or send a small contribution, or invite a newly settled refugee family over for Thanksgiving.","author":"Will Schwalbe","tags":["do-something","service"],"id":77750,"author_id":"Will+Schwalbe"},{"text":"I think it's because it shows that people--or hobbits, as the case may be--can find strength they didn't know they had.","author":"Will Schwalbe","tags":["hobbits","strength"],"id":119346,"author_id":"Will+Schwalbe"},{"text":"Good books often answer questions you didn't even know you wanted to ask.","author":"Will Schwalbe","tags":["answer","good-books","questions"],"id":180368,"author_id":"Will+Schwalbe"},{"text":"It was the women of afghanistan,my mother believed,who-once they’d been granted access to books and education- would be the salvation of the country.","author":"Will Schwalbe","tags":["feminism"],"id":194031,"author_id":"Will+Schwalbe"},{"text":"And there's something you can always tell people who want to learn more about the world and who don't know how to find a cause to support. You can always tell them to read.","author":"Will Schwalbe","tags":["reading-books"],"id":207178,"author_id":"Will+Schwalbe"},{"text":"Trust is all about instinct. If you had all the facts, you wouldn't need trust. Trust is what is required in the absence of proof. But I believe you can strengthen your instincts by testing them; every time you prove yourself right or wrong, they grow stronger.","author":"Will Schwalbe","tags":["life-and-living","trust"],"id":211367,"author_id":"Will+Schwalbe"}],"pagination":{"page":1,"page_size":10,"total":27,"pages":3,"next":"?page=2\u0026page_size=10"}}