I came from a race of fishers; trout streams gurgled about the roots of my family tree.

The smallest deed is better than the greatest intention.

A man can fail many times, but he isn't a failure until he begins to blame somebody else.

For anything worth having one must pay the price; and the price is always work, patience, love, self-sacrifice - no paper currency, no promises to pay, but the gold of real service.

How beautiful the leaves grow old. How full of light and color are their last days.

I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read, and all the friends I want to see.

I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order.

To learn something new, take the path that you took yesterday.

One resolution I have made, and try always to keep, is this: ‘To rise above little things’.

The longer I live, the more my mind dwells upon the beauty and the wonder of the world.

In winter the stars seem to have rekindled their fires, the moon achieves a fuller triumph, and the heavens wear a look of a more exalted simplicity.

Oh, I'm good. Seriously, after all these years, you'd think I would stop amazing myself. But here I am, still doing it.

You are more than just flesh and bones

Faith is the black person's federal reserve system.

What is necessary is never unwise.

The poets down here don't write nothin' at all, they just stand back and let it all be.

What a day. It's 53 and gloomy - like President Obama.

My poems are almost all written as Diane. I don't have any problems with that, and if other women choose to identify with this, I think that's terrific.

What is a valid reason for someone to love someone else? Since apparently I’m doing it wrong.

The character of a people may be ruined by charity.

Most people don't care if you're telling them the truth or if you're telling them a lie, as long as they're entertained by it.