For most gulls, it is not flying that matters, but eating.
For this gull, though, it was not eating that mattered, but flight'.


- from "Jonathan Livingston Seagull"'

"Jonathan Livingston Seagull is the first book by Richard Bach that I ever read. I was seven the first time I read it, and said to myself, wow, wasn't that a nice story about a bird who learned how to fly, and taught others how to fly. I read it again, for a second time, when I was sixteen, and saw something I clearly missed the first time. What I saw was the potential inherent in not just one seagull, but in every living being, and how fortunate are those of us who are brave enough to follow it. What I've learned is that what I saw was not the potential to succeed, to become famous, rich, powerful, or even glorious. What I saw was the potential to love -- to follow your love, to hold it in your heart, to cherish it, and to let it flourish with you. And what I've discovered only very recently is that the potential to love is there, inside all of us; and when we choose to share that love with one another, it's the most beautiful thing that we can do".

-Quoted by Ethan R. Siegel PhD., University of Florida.