Be lovely and do no harm.

What happens when you let an unsatisfactory present go on long enough? It becomes your entire history.

Things which do not grow and change are dead things.

When women age into their power, no wind can upset them, no hand turn aside their knowledge, no fact can deflect their point of view.

We do know that no one gets wise enough to really understand the heart of another, though it is the task of our life to try.

Our songs travel the earth. We sing to one another. Not a single note is ever lost and no song is original. They all come from the same place and go back to a time when only the stones howled.

You have to love. You have to feel. It is the reason you are here on earth. You are here to risk your heart.

When we are young, the words are scattered all around us. As they are assembled by experience, so also are we, sentence by sentence, until the story takes shape.

some people meet the way the sky meets the earth, inevitably, and there is no stopping or holding back their love. It exists in a finished world, beyond the reach of common sense.

Of course, English is a very powerful language, a colonizer's language and a gift to a writer. English has destroyed and sucked up the languages of other cultures - its cruelty is its vitality.

Love won't be tampered with, love won't go away. Push it to one side and it creeps to the other.

if it makes you happy, then why the hell are you so sad?

Quin lay down next to me and buried his face in my neck. I felt everything hidden and heavy inside him collapse in my arms. His hot tears joined with mine."I need you.""I know, " I answered.

From the bow of the canoe she asked, "Do you know a rain dance?""First I need a virgin.

If you love your country, you must be willing to defend it from fraud, bigotry, and recklessness--even from a president.

Money's a horrid thing to follow, but a charming thing to meet.

It's better to be burnished with use than rusty with principle.

The clock is just as much a part of the game as the board and pieces, and losing because of time-trouble is no different to losing because of weak play -- it's still a zero on the score-sheet.

I think the scale of the conflict [in Afghanistan] has dramatically changed in 2003. You're now facing a much more motivated, well-supported enemy. I don't see any quick end to this thing.

How could your cover be blown in Canada? Why even bother going dark there? How could you tell?

Give me a theme," the little poet cried, "And I will do my part," "'Tis not a theme you need," the world replied; "You need a heart.