Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths,

Enwrought with golden and silver light,

The blue and the dim and the dark cloths,

Of night and light and the half light,

I would spread the cloths under your feet,

But I, being poor, have only my dreams,

I have spread my dreams under your feet,

Tread softly because you tread on my dreams

David was a young shepherd boy from Bethlehem, the youngest of eight sons of Jesse.

The Philistine army had gathered against Israel, and their champion Goliath, standing over nine feet tall, clad in bronze armour, stepped forward each day for forty days, challenging Israel to send a fighter.

Every soldier in Saul's army was terrified and refused.

David arrived at the camp to deliver food to his brothers and heard Goliath's challenge.

He went to King Saul and volunteered to fight.

Saul offered his armor, but David set it aside and went to a stream, selecting five smooth stones for his sling.

Goliath saw David approaching and laughed, cursing him and promising to feed his flesh to the birds.

"Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?"

David told Goliath that he came in the name of God, and that the battle belonged not to the strong but to something greater.

He ran toward Goliath, released a stone from his sling, and it struck the giant in the forehead.

Goliath crashed to the ground, and David took the giant's own sword and cut off his head.

Look deeply enough anywhere, and you will always find yourself.

The greatest gift we can give to the world is to simply hold ourselves to a higher standard.

May all beings be happy and secure, may they be happy-minded.

Whatever living beings there are — feeble or strong, long, stout or medium, short, small or large, seen or unseen.

Those dwelling far or near, those who are born or those who await rebirth may all beings, without exception be happy-minded.

Let none deceive another nor despise any person whatever in any place, in anger or ill-will let them not wish any suffering to each other.

Just as a mother would protect her only child at the risk of her own life, even so, let him cultivate a boundless heart towards all beings.

Let her thoughts of boundless loving kindness pervade the whole world, above, below and across, without obstruction, without any hatred, without any enmity.

But being is making.

Not only large things, a family, a book, a business...

But the shape we gave this afternoon,

A conversation two friends,

A meal.

However ruined this world has become...

However mired in torment and despair...

Life endures.

Births continue.

There is beauty in that, is there not?

Identity is not fixed.

It is performed.

And when the performance is total, the performer becomes the thing.

The self is far more malleable than most people believe, and the environment is the sculptor.

The self is not fixed.

It is a process, a story being told in real time, shaped by environment, habit, body, and repetition.

We are made up of our beliefs, values, environment, the stories we tell ourselves.

One changes by doing, inhabiting, and becoming...

Until the new thing is no longer a performance but a fact.

In many ways, the work of a critic is easy.

We risk very little, yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment.

We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read.

But the bitter truth we critics must face, is that in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so.

But there are times when a critic truly risks something, and that is in the discovery and defense of the new.

The world is often unkind to new talent, new creations.

The new needs friends.

Last night, I experienced something new: an extraordinary meal from a singularly unexpected source.

To say that both the meal and its maker have challenged my preconceptions about fine cooking is a gross understatement.

They have rocked me to my core.

In the past, I have made no secret of my disdain for Chef Gusteau's famous motto, "Anyone can cook."

But I realize, only now do I truly understand what he meant.

Not everyone can become a great artist; but a great artist can come from anywhere.

It is difficult to imagine more humble origins than those of the genius now cooking at Gusteau's, who is, in this critic's opinion, nothing less than the finest chef in France.

I will be returning to Gusteau's soon, hungry for more.

You ain’t gonna believe this, but you used to fit right here.

I’d hold you up to say to your mother, "This kid’s gonna be the best kid in the world. This kid’s gonna be somebody better than anybody I ever knew."

And you grew up good and wonderful. It was great just watchin’ you, every day was like a privilege.

Then the time come for you to be your own man and take on the world, and you did.

But somewhere along the line, you changed.

You stopped being you.

You let people stick a finger in your face and tell you you’re no good. And when things got hard, you started lookin’ for something to blame, like a big shadow.

Let me tell you something you already know.

The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows.

It’s a very mean and nasty place, and I don’t care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it.

You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life.

But it ain’t about how hard you hit, it’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.

How much you can take and keep moving forward.

That’s how winning is done!

Now if you know what you’re worth, then go out and get what you’re worth!

But you gotta be willing to take the hits.

And not pointing fingers saying you ain’t where you wanna be because of him, or her, or anybody!

Cowards do that and that ain’t you!

You’re better than that!

I’m always gonna love you no matter what.

No matter what happens.

You’re my son and you’re my blood.

You’re the best thing in my life.

But until you start believing in yourself, you ain’t gonna have a life.

An underdog is a person or group participating in a competition, usually sports and creative works, who is largely expected to lose.

The party, team, or individual expected to win is called the favourite or top dog.

In the case where an under dog wins...

The outcome is known as an "upset".

I am nothing.

I am something.

I am everything.

Water is fluid, soft, and yielding.

But water will wear away rock, which is rigid and cannot yield.

As a rule, whatever is fluid, soft, and yielding will overcome whatever is rigid and hard.

This is another paradox: what is soft is strong.