One cannot collect all the beautiful shells on the beach. One can collect only a few, and they are more beautiful if they are few.

The most exhausting thing in life is being insincere.

It takes as much courage to have tried and failed as it does to have tried and succeeded.

By and large, mothers and housewives are the only workers who do not have regular time off. They are the great vacationless class.

The sea does not reward those who are too anxious, too greedy, or too impatient. One should lie empty, open, choiceless as a beach - waiting for a gift from the sea.

Men kick friendship around like a football, but it doesn't seem to crack. Women treat it like glass and it goes to pieces.

I feel we are all islands - in a common sea.

A simple enough pleasure, surely, to have breakfast alone with one's husband, but how seldom married people in the midst of life achieve it.

My passport photo is one of the most remarkable photographs I have ever seen- no retouching, no shadows, no flattery-just stark me.

When I cannot write a poem, I bake biscuits and feel just as pleased.

Don't wish me happiness - I don't expect to be happy it's gotten beyond that, somehow. Wish me courage and strength and a sense of humor - I will need them all.

For everything sacred has the substance of dreams and memories, and so we experience the miracle of what is separated from us by time or distance suddenly being made tangible.

Confidence is the prize given to the mediocre

That's the thing about faith. If you don't have it you can't understand it. And if you do no explanation is necessary.

Forgiveness takes time. It is the last step of the grieving process.

It's up to me if I decide to do what I think is right.

The invasions are totally unacceptable and should be stopped forthwith by whoever is doing it.

You should do what you have to do.

Laughter is very young, whereas tragedy, except the very highest of all, quickly becomes haggard.

Like when you have the right title for something you're writing and you get lost - you can always go back to the title and go, "Yeah, that's what this is about."

Consumerism has brought us anxiety. Set aside time to play with your children, and turn off the TV when they sit down to eat.