If you ask me if I have this or that principle, tell me what its consequences are, and then I'll tell you whether I have that principle or not.

It's hell writing and it's hell not writing. The only tolerable state is having just written.

Such tenderness, those afternoons and evenings, saying blackberry, blackberry, blackberry.

Take the time to write. You can do your life's work in half an hour a day.

Longing, we say, because desire is full of endless distances.

Poetry is a fireplace in summer or a fan in winter.

If you're imaginatively responsible to the place you live in, you understand the watershed.

The birds are silent in the woods. / Just wait: soon enough / You will be quiet too

Imagination runs through the places where we live like water. We need both things-a living knowledge of the land and a live imagination of it and our place in it- if we are going to preserve it.

Repetition makes us feel secure and variation makes us feel free.

Writing is an incessant process of discovery.

We never know which lives we influence, or when, or why.

God wants to meet your needs, but seeking to receive something from Him shouldn’t dominate your prayer life.

You cannot pray for someone and hate them at the same time.

Life would be fabric-softener, tuna-salad-on-white, PTA-meeting normal.

Autonomy, Purpose, & Mastery: If you are having difficulty creating the life you want, chances are one or more of these are missing.

I've passed on a number of bills. I've studied the Constitution myself. I am reasonably well educated...

Fate's such a shrewish thing.

I think it turned out to be a pretty good movie [42]. I wouldn't lie to you.

Gardeners often focus exclusively on plants, missing the absolutely essential visual role played by structures, from paths to pavilions.

Java is like a variant of the game of Tetris in which none of the pieces can fill gaps created by the other pieces, so all you can do is pile them up endlessly.