This is a quote from Grace Paley, short story writer, poet, activist. Once upon a time, I drank up her story collections The Little Disturbances of Man and Enormous Changes at the Last Minute and remembered these words. I painted them on the mirror that hangs near my front door to remind me that every day is a chance to voice and act on what I believe in and what I hold most dear. Yeah, my faulty memory skewered the quote a bit, which is: “Let us go forth with fear and courage and rage to save the world.” Curiously, I omitted the fear (because that’s what I predominantly feel?). Painting words on a mirror gives you some time to think long and hard on them: courage, from the root cor, meaning heart.

(Thank you, Lisa Congdon, for the lettering inspiration.)