I know of no restorative of heart, body, and soul more effective against hopelessness than the restoration of the Earth.

To put your hands in a river is to feel the chords that bind the earth together.

The land is like poetry: it is inexplicably coherent, it is transcendent in its meaning, and it has the power to elevate a consideration of human life.

If stories come to you, care for them. And learn to give them away where they are needed. Sometimes a person needs a story more than food to stay alive.

We cannot, of course, save the World because we do not have authority over its parts. We can serve the world though. That is everyone's calling, to lead a life that helps.

The interior landscape responds to the character and subtlety of the exterior landscape; the shape of the individual mind is affected by the land as it is by genes.

Everything is held together with stories. That is all that is holding us together, stories and compassion.

The land gets inside of us; and we must decide one way or another what this means, what we will do about it.

real beauty is so deep you have to move into darkness to understand it.

Sometimes a person needs a story more than food to stay alive.

We simply do not understand our place in the universe and have not the courage to admit it.

The body's ills are the least of ills, for they end only in death, which is but a little thing. But if the spirit dies, then all is lost.

If you seek revenge, it means you're scared or you feel guilty for what happened in some way. It's okay to be angry with someone, but don't think about revenge. It's like a disease that eats you up.

His lordship may compel us to be equal upstairs, but there will never be equality in the servants hall.

Fortunately analysis is not the only way to resolve inner conflicts. Life itself still remains a very effective therapist.

I worry that even well-intentioned attempts to "improve nature" (say by reducing suffering) will make things worse even in their own terms.

Experience is an excellent doctor, though he never had a diploma.

When a person is resolute [determined, sold out, dedicated, single-minded] in his faith and recognizes God's Presence everywhere, he is protected from all sides.

Anything that keeps you happy and writing is part of my writing ritual: I like music, so I tend to have it playing in the background. But if I'm interested, I can write in an airport waiting areas.

An America that looks away is ignoring not just the sins of the past but the sins of the present and the certain sins of the future.

I don't think you go to a play to forget, or to a movie to be distracted. I think life generally is a distraction and that going to a movie is a way to get back, not go away.