One time I saw a tiny Joshua tree sapling growing not too far from the old tree. I wanted to dig it up and replant it near our house. I told Mom that I would protect it from the wind and water it every day so that it could grow nice and tall and straight. Mom frowned at me. "You'd be destroying what makes it special," she said. "It's the Joshua tree's struggle that gives it its beauty.

Life was not easy, nor was it happy, but she did not expect life to be easy, and, if it was not happy, that was woman's lot. It was a man's world, and she accepted it as such. The man owned the property, and the woman managed it. The man took credit for the management, and the woman praised his cleverness. The man roared like a bull when a splinter was in his finger, and the woman muffled the moans of childbirth, lest she disturb him. Men were rough of speech and often drunk. Women ignored the lapses of speech and put the drunkards to bed without bitter words. Men were rude and outspoken, women were always kind, gracious and forgiving.

Not one of your pertinent ancestors was squashed, devoured, drowned, starved, stranded, stuck fast, untimely wounded, or otherwise deflected from its life's quest of delivering a tiny charge of genetic material to the right partner at the right moment in order to perpetuate the only possible sequence of hereditary combinations that could result -- eventually, astoundingly, and all too briefly -- in you.

"America is the wealthiest nation on Earth, but its people are mainly poor, and poor Americans are urged to hate themselves. To quote the American humorist Kin Hubbard, 'It ain't no disgrace to be poor, but it might as well be.' It is in fact a crime for an American to be poor, even though America is a nation of poor. Every other nation has folk traditions of men who were poor but extremely wise and virtuous, and therefore more estimable than anyone with power and gold. No such tales are told by the American poor. They mock themselves and glorify their betters. The meanest eating or drinking establishment, owned by a man who is himself poor, is very likely to have a sign on its wall asking this cruel question: 'if you're so smart, why ain't you rich?' There will also be an American flag no larger than a child's hand ? glued to a lollipop stick and flying from the cash register.

The Faculty of Technology of Tohoku University is renowned for its tradition of practical studies.

I don't know if I've owned a piece of technology that I hated - I don't think I would have owned it then.

Writing I'm convinced should be a subversive activity - frowned on by the authorities - and not one cooed over and praised beyond common sense by some teacher.

The movies that are made more thoughtfully or made or with more ambition often get just get drowned out by the noise.

If we're going to spend a lot of money to deal with the problem of 200 million guns in the country owned by 65 million gun owners we ought to have a system which will work and catch criminals.

My brother Jim and I spent many wonderful summers working on dairy farms in Wisconsin owned by Mom's cousins and as members of our local Boy Scout troop.

Over the years the political establishment has frowned if a mainstream politician mentions marriage.

They seem to have forgotten that and are back saying the only purpose of P2P networks is for illegal trading of owned goods. We claim part of the reason for P2P is for legal trading of what ought to be in public domain. And what is in public domain in many cases.

It seems the most logical thing in the world to believe that the natural resources of the Earth upon which the race depends for food clothing and shelter should be owned collectively by the race instead of being the private property of a few social parasites.

My parents owned a soul food diner. It inspired me to go to culinary school.

No man will be a sailor who has contrivance enough to get himself into a jail for being in a ship is being in a jail with the chance of being drowned... a man in a jail has more room better food and commonly better company.

To be fair lying is part and parcel of public life. Every politician has lied about something because they are owned by the special interest groups that finance their elections.

Before I was married I didn't consider my failure to manage even basic hand tools a feminist inadequacy. I thought it had more to do with being Jewish. The Jews I knew growing up didn't do 'do-it-yourself.' When my father needed to hammer something he generally used his shoe and the only real tool he owned was a pair of needle-nose pliers.

Happiness cannot be traveled to owned earned worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love grace and gratitude.

The Hispanic community values entrepreneurship and family-owned businesses and we deserve a leader in Washington who is dedicated to creating an environment where our values our goals and our dreams of prosperity can become reality.

I'm not cynical about marriage or romance. I enjoyed being married. And although being single was fun for a while there was always the risk of dating someone who'd owned a lunch box with my picture on it.

I once owned a really really ugly pair of white leather boots. They were so bad. It was back in the '80s! It was just a really tacky fashion choice when I was in middle school and I thought it was cool. I'm really embarrassed.

At our computer club we talked about it being a revolution. Computers were going to belong to everyone and give us power and free us from the people who owned computers and all that stuff.

I was really into classifieds for awhile. I'm a big negotiator. My father owned a car dealership when I was younger... it's just in my blood.

A male gynecologist is like an auto mechanic who has never owned a car.