Points to Ponder

THE AROMA of flour, sugar, and butter mingling in the oven is a better tonic than any alcohol. And the best recipe for a good evening is a dish so fragrant that it makes the tongue-tied start to talk. The formula is simple: when you cook for people, they feel cared for.

RUTH REICHL, chef and food wri ter, in her book My Kitchen Year

WILDNESS IS EVERYWHERE … It’s on our hands, it’s in our immune systems, it’s in our lungs – where there are 2000 bacteria per square centimetre! … Much of what we consider to be us is in fact not us. We breathe, and wildness comes in.

JACK TURNER, nature wri ter, in the Sun

“YOU CAN BE anything you want to be” is pithy advice that isn’t helping most of the young launch careers or find satisfaction … If we really think about it, few of us mean it literally … Perhaps what we’re really trying to say to our children is that we trust in their ability to build a meaningful life.

LESLIE GARRETT, writer, on aeon.com

WHAT KIND OF WORLD do we want to leave to those who come after us, to children who are now growing up? The question not only concerns the environment in isolation; the issue cannot be approached piecemeal.

POPE FRANCIS, in his encyclical on the environment

In sports, there are rules that keep you safe. In life, there are rules that keep the world from descending into total chaos. In both, there are rules that people make up to hide behind or for their own benefit. You have to be smart enough to know the difference.

RONDA ROUSEY, UFC women’s bantamweight champion, in her memoir, My Fight/Your Fight