Carl Seaburg (1922-1998) was a Unitarian minister who served three parishes in Northern New England and was also an editor for Beacon Press. Over the years, he collected juicy quotations and readings for those who want to ritualize four watersheds of life — birth, coming-of-age, marriage and death. It is tailor-made for ministers and rabbis who are always on the lookout for new material, but it can be used by anyone who has a hankering for hearing some meaningful words during a ritual.

There are more than 650 memorable selections in this paperback resource. To give you a flavor, here are two examples. For the birth of a child, Kenneth L. Patton writes in This World, My Home:

"Nothing is strange to the child for whom everything is new.
Where all things are new nothing is novel.
The child does not yet know what belongs and what does not; therefore for him all things belong.
The ear of the child is open to all music.
The eyes are open to all arts.
His mind is open to all tongues.
His being is open to all manners.
In the child's country there are no foreigners."

And here's a wonderful passage from an African bushman on death:

"The day we die
Then the wind comes
To wipe us out,
The traces of our feet.
The wind creates dust
Which covers
The traces that were
Where we had walked,
For otherwise
It would be
As if we were
Still alive.
That is why it is the wind
That comes
To wipe out
The traces of our feet."