Quote of the Day

[SunshineSue]

It was obvious that a substance with such fantastic effects on mental perception and on the experience of the outer and inner world would also arouse interest outside medical science, but I had not expected that LSD, with its unfathomably uncanny, profound effects, so unlike the character of a recreational drug, would ever find worldwide use as an inebriant. I had expected curiosity and interest on the part of artists outside of medicine—performers, painters, and writers—but not among people in general. After the scientific publications around the turn of the century on mescaline—which, as already mentioned, evokes psychic effects quite like those of LSD—the use of this compound remained confined to medicine and to experiments within artistic and literary circles. I had expected the same fate for LSD. And indeed, the first non-medicinal self-experiments with LSD were carried out by writers, painters, musicians, and other intellectuals.

--Albert Hofmann

[SunshineSue]

The illegality of cannabis is outrageous, an impediment to full utilization of a drug which helps produce the serenity and insight, sensitivity and fellowship so desperately needed in this increasingly mad and dangerous world.

--Carl Sagan, Mr. X, essay, 1969

[SunshineSue]

We need joy as we need air. We need love as we need water. We need each other as we need the earth we share.

--Maya Angelou

[SunshineSue]

Jerry's delivery was both spine-tingling and blood- curdling, presented without histrionics and with a fearless objectivity -- just letting the song speak for itself. That was my first intimation that music with that kind of directness and simplicity could deliver an aesthetic and emotional payoff comparable to that of the greatest operatic or symphonic works. Needless to say, I was blown away.

--Phil Lesh, on hearing Jerry perform the ballad Matty Groves at a party in East Palo Alto

[SunshineSue]

Artists are the gatekeepers of truth. We are civilization’s anchor. We are the compass for humanity’s conscience.

--Harry Belafonte

[SunshineSue]

If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.

--Dalai Lama

[SunshineSue]

There have been times, lately, when I dearly wished that I could change the past. Well, I can’t, but I can change the present, so that when it becomes the past it will turn out to be a past worth having.

--Terry Pratchett

[SunshineSue]

Make connections; let rip; and dance where you can.

--Annie Dillard

[SunshineSue]

Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes ice melt, kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust, and hostility to evaporate.

--Albert Schweitzer

[SunshineSue]

All I know is that in the midst of the madness of this world it's my therapy. The music touches my heartstrings.

--Gordon Lightfoot