I’ve always been bad. Probably I shall be bad again, punished again. But the worse I am, the more I need God. I can’t shut myself out from His mercy.

I have a good mind not to take Aloysius to Venice. I don't want him to meet a lot of horrid Italian bears and pick up bad habits.

No one is ever holy without suffering.

The languor of Youth - how unique and quintessential it is! How quickly, how irrecoverably, lost!

Aunt Fanny tells me you made great friends with Mr. Mottram. I'm sure he can't be very nice.''I don't think he is, ' said Julia. 'I don't know that I like nice people

Do you want to change?" "It's the only evidence of life.

When the waterholes were dry, people sought to drink at the mirage.

Oh, my darling, why is it that love makes me hate the world? It's supposed to have quite the opposite effect. I feel as though all mankind, and God, too, were in a conspiracy against us.

If she looked further than the wedding, it was to see marriage as the beginning of individual existence, this skirmish from which one one's spurs, from which one set out on the true quests of life.

If it could only be like this always – always summer, always alone, the fruit always ripe and Aloysius in a good temper...

Instruction would be wasted on me. Just to give me the form and I'll sign on the dotted line.

Still not sure about how easily he could be integrated into their posse, Trevor smiled in delighted relief at how tolerantly two of his close friends had received his new identity.

A person who magnanimously exhibits their passion allows us to witness their authentic personality whereas a cold and calculating personality remains inscrutable.

I still don't understand what a sea god would be doing in Atlanta."Leo snorted. "What's a wine god doing in Kansas? Gods are weird.

There's more power in being Oprah Winfrey than in being Barack Obama.

Once you touch the trappings of monarchy, like opening an Egyptian tomb, the inside is liable to crumble.

The Polar Express began with the idea of a train standing alone in the woods. I asked myself, What if a boy gets on that train? Where does he go?

As soon as I'm finished with it, it feels like an impersonal project. Like, "Well, I did another book."

We mapped out the whole movie, and then worked backwards from that to do these shows. It might not be a movie. It might be something else.

The only way to lead people is to show them a future: a leader is a dealer in hope.

Miracles are great, but they're so damn unpredictable.