John Otterbacher
Author, Speaker and Adventurer

OVEREXTENSION

Cluttered Desk

My sure-fire way to accomplish little: Try to do do everything. (time-tested and enduring)

DEMOCRACY

“Democracy is the worst form of government there is, except all the others.” -Winston Churchill

DISHONESTY

A particularly disturbing form of intellectual dishonesty is to pretend that I do not know what I actually know because of what it asks of me.

SOMEBODY

Dog painting

“I always wanted to be somebody. I see now I should have been more specific.” -Lily Tomlin

SILENCE

Image of a house

Spent a sunny afternoon with Thomas Merton at his hermitage in the Kentucky woods. He let silence do the talking.  

STILLNESS

Mountain range

In stillness a world emerges to which the only response is love.

WATER

Image of a lake with large hills to the side

“If I were called in to construct a religion, I would make use of water.” Philip Larkin

EXPLORATION

Image of a winding road

“Old men ought to be explorers….still and still moving, into another intensity.” T.S.Elliot

NEW HAMPSHIRE

River

”Instructions for living. Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.” -Mary Oliver

VERMONT

Vermont House

Reaching for the light at dusk.