Quote for the New Year
I just started reading a book called "How the Irish Saved Civilization" by Thomas Cahill. It's a few years old, but was the beginning of a series he wrote called "Hinges of History." The second in the series is "The Gift of the Jews." It looks like there are at least two or three others in the series, one on the world before and after Jesus and another on the Greeks. They appear to be intriguing books, and I'm looking forward to getting into this one on the Irish.

Anyway, here is the great quote of the day (or year), which appears opposite the dedication page in How the Irish Saved Civilization:

"Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime; therefore we must be saved by hope. Nothing which is true or beautful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore we must be saved by faith. Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore we must be saved by love."
- Reinhold Niebuhr