How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
"We should be looking at our potential, stretching ourselves into everything we can become. But if you're surrounded by people who say 'I want mine now,' you end up with a few people with everything and a military to keep the poor ones from rising up and stealing it." (21.28)
Compassionate people make for a good society, while selfish people, on the other hand, make for a really unfair world to live in. We all have a responsibility to help each other reach our potential so that the world can be a fair and honest place to live in.
Quote #8
It was another of the things I had watched his helpers do for months, and now, in an attempt to hold on to what I could of him, I had volunteered to do it myself. […] Also, of course, Morrie liked being held and touched. And at this point, anything I could do to make him happy, I was going to do. (23.3)
Mitch is massaging Morrie's ankles to help relieve his pain. His love for Morrie has moved him to acts of compassion, and his way of showing his love for his friend is through small acts of kindness. We know that he's not one for words like Morrie is, so show he shows that he cares in different ways.
Quote #9
"It's not just other people we need to forgive, Mitch," he finally whispered. We also need to forgive ourselves."
Ourselves?
"Yes. For all the things we didn't do. All the things we should have done. You can't get stuck on the regrets of what should have happened. That doesn't help you when you get to where I am." (23.17-19)
Morrie is sharing a story with Mitch about a friendship of his own that ended badly because he held a grudge. There are two morals to this story: (1) You've got to forgive people because refusing to forgive is refusing to love; and (2) you've got to forgive yourself no matter what. Hating yourself for something that you aren't able to fix is just destructive.