Words of Buddha

Did you never see in the world a . . . woman, eighty, ninety, or a hundred years old, frail, crooked as a gable roof, bent down, resting on crutches, with tottering steps, infirm, youth long since fled, with broken teeth, grey and scanty hair, or bald-headed, wrinkled, with blotched limbs? And did the thought never come to you that also you are subject to decay, that also you cannot escape it? - Buddha, in "The Three Warnings".

Sophia

The striking beauty Sophia Loren (1934-) once said, "Everything you see I owe to spaghetti." Also: "It's a mistake to think that once you're done with school you need never learn anything new."

Her first name, Sophia, is Greek for "wisdom", which is ranked high in Christian theology. There, Holy Sophia is an expression for the Logos (second person) of the Trinity.

In the Old Testament, the Book of Proverbs personifies Divine Sophia, which existed before the world was made and served as God's agent in creation. Sophia was "found" by Yahweh, who gave her to Israel. As a female figure, Sophia addressed human beings and invites those who are not yet wise. "She is the breath of the power of God . . . the image of his goodness." She makes friends of God, and prophets." (Wisdom 7:22b - 8:2, passim).