My parents made the decision never to focus on my looks, and I had no sense of myself as beautiful.

I try to remember that the job - as well as the plight, and the unexpected joy - of the artist is to embrace uncertainty, to be sharpened and honed by it.

It is in the thousands of days of trying, failing, sitting, thinking, resisting, dreaming, raveling, unraveling that we are at our most engaged, alert, and alive.

Writing has been my window-flung wide open to this magnificent, chaotic existence-my way of interpreting everything within my grasp.

Everything you need to know about life can be learned from a genuine and ongoing attempt to write

If I dismiss the ordinary—waiting for the special, the extreme, the extraordinary to happen - I may just miss my life.

I do whatever is necessary in order to maintain the equanimity we all need to withstand the disappointment and rejection that are the lot of every writer, no matter where we are in our careers.

The only graceful thing to do is recognize and embrace what is actually happening, rather than fight against it.

My desk is covered with talismans: pieces of rose quartz, wishing stones from a favorite beach.

How do we live the writer's life? There's only one simple answer: 'we write.'

If you are a writer or any kind of artist, if you change something as fundamental as where you live - the way you live - then I think you change the very instrument that is trying to make the art

Sometimes, breaking down is the bravest thing you can do.

There is no check-box for ethical leadership. It is an ongoing individual and organizational journey. We will never know everything that there is to know.

To take hold of your mind, you must practice mindfulness of the mind. You must know how to observe and recognize the presence of every feeling and thought which arises in you.

Network etiquette is our participation in groups. Following Netiquette rules is a contribution. NetworkEtiquette.net

Happiness consists not in having much but in being content with little.

What is the chief end of giving? To glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

Let us live in joy, never falling sick like those who hate us. Let us live in freedom, without hatred even among those who hate.

One cannot look at the sea without wishing for the wings of a swallow.

But they woke him with words, their cruel bright weapons.

To see a candle's light, one must take it into a dark place. This is the same as to see the good and be grateful, one must compare and contrast it with something worse - not better!