It is a waste of time to see people who have only a social surface to show. I will make every effort to find out the real person, but if I can't, then I am upset and cross. Time wasted is poison.

We are all jellyfish, too pitiful and too afraid of being disliked to be honest.

Everything that slows us down and forces patience, everything that sets us back into the slow circles of nature, is a help. Gardening is an instrument of grace.

Without darkness, nothing comes to birth, As without light, nothing flowers.

What is destructive is impatience, haste, expecting too much too fast.

We have to dare to be ourselves, however frightening or strange that self may prove to be.

The minute one utters a certainty, the opposite comes to mind.

The most valuable thing we can do for the psyche, occasionally, is to let it rest, wander, live in the changing light of room, not try to be or do anything whatever.

There are some griefs so loud/They could bring down the sky/And there are griefs so still/None knows how deep they lie.

A house that does not have one warm, comfy chair in it is soulless.

It is, I assume, quite easy to wither into old age, and hard to grow into it.

We endure hard times by the power of God.

I don't own my emotions unless I can think about them. I am not afraid of feeling but I am afraid of feeling unthinkingly. I don't want to drown. My head is my heart's lifebelt.

War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse.

I've faced the grief, I've faced the anger, and I'm ready to keep up the fight because America is worth fighting for.

If you understand the Black Lives Matter movement, there's no central leadership of the movement. This is an organic, grassroots movement all around America.

I'm not sure any narrative model has been more important for me than Benjamin Britten's chamber operas.

Things that can't go on forever, won't. Debts that can't be paid, won't be.

No government is here forever. And there are other forces - the most potent force in our society, in fact, big business - doing good for the environment.

I don't plan a career. That doesn't work for me. I just have to go with my gut.

Life is difficult. Anyone who says different is trying to sell you something.