Contentment is mostly a matter of talking yourself into believing that God will not strike you too hard for leaning in the direction of your hungers.

Ask her what she craved, and she'd get a little frantic about things like books, the woods, music. Plants and the seasons. Also freedom.

We are not strong enough to stand up against endless grief, And yet pain is the constant drone of life. So if we are to have any happiness at all, it is only in the passing instant.

She always carried a book, though, in case she needed to read a few pages to avoid unwanted conversation.

Claim your space. Draw a circle of light around it. Push back against the dark. Don't just survive. Celebrate.

Thinking: this journey will be the axle of my life.

All I can say is that we are mistaken to gouge such a deep rift in history that the things old men and old women know have become so useless as to be not worth passing on to grandchildren.

Well, I'm a slow writer. For me, a good day is a page, maybe a page and a half. I'd love to be more efficient, but I am not.

I had never taken creative writing classes. Hadn't even considered it.

A lizard in the spring - hear his darling sing. A bird with wings to fly - go back to his darling weep and moan till he dies. A mole in the ground - root a mountain down.

He tried to name which of the deadly seven might apply, and when he failed he decided to append an eighth, regret.

I can lose my temper from time to time, but I try not to lose it on the pitch because it can't help.

Oh, why must a man like that be made unhappy when there are lots of girls about who would worship the very ground he trod on?

The longer I live, the more convinced I am that Christianity is one long shout of joy!

Before a fight I empty my mind. Every fighter is able to lose. It is not a big thing. You have to accept what comes and remain calm.

All peoples must be respected, and they must all be granted the same rights.

I believe what I have to say is important, and I believe the people coming to hear me are important, and so the occasion of itself alone has an importance, which forces me to stare down my nerves.

If the girls and boys have talent and feel like working on themselves, they can become champions.

It's quite a thrill to see it coming to life on stage.

I am always sorry when any language is lost, because languages are the pedigrees of nations.