Like the musician, the painter, the poet and the rest, the true lover of flowers is born, not made.

I wonder what spendthrift chose to spill Such a bright gold under my windowsill! Is it fair gold? Does it glitter still? Bless me! It's a daffodil!

Sad soul, take comfort, nor forget That sunrise never failed us yet.

Already the dandelions Are changed into vanishing ghosts.

When in these fresh mornings I go into my garden before any one is awake, I go for the time being into perfect happiness.

There shall be an eternal summer in the grateful heart.

It seems to me the worst of all the plagues is the slug, the snail without a shell. He is beyond description repulsive, a mass of sooty, shapeless slime, and he devours everything.

Ever since I could remember anything, flowers have been like dear friends to me, comforters, inspirers, powers to uplift and to cheer.

This very act of planting a seed in the earth has in it to me something beautiful. I always do it with a joy that is largely mixed with awe.

When the snow is still blowing against the window-pane in January and February and the wild winds are howling without, what pleasure it is to plan for summer that is to be.

One golden day redeems a weary year

Zen probably won’t solve a single one of our problems. What it might do is help us relate differently to what we consider problems.

How many wives have been forced by the death of well-intentioned but too protective husbands to face reality late in life, bewildered and frightened because they were strangers to it!

I'm not trying to be cocky, but I set such a high standard for myself. I'm not happy when I pitch seven innings and give up two runs and get a win.

The person who gives you your first job is so important in any industry.

If we want to know what's most sacred in this world, all we need to do is look for what is most violently profaned.

You need to have a God, a lover, and an enemy, says the poet. Exactly: you need to have three enemies.

Confusion makes people uncomfortable. They can't put their finger on me.

As soon as you set yourself up in the position of transferring paint from one place to another, your whole culture invades you. It tells you all about the history of art.

Seeing with the eyes of Christ, I can give to others much more than their outward necessities; I can give them the look of love which they crave.

The reason good women like me and flock to my pictures is that there is a little bit of vampire instinct in every woman.