Suffering can thus be seen in large part as a kind of resistance or reactivity to the pain of the present moment. (p. 74)

Without such trust and safety, social relationships tend to become strategic rather than cooperative, increasingly full of skepticism and even anxiety and fear about others' intentions. (p. 27)

...it is often more difficult to remember to be mindful than to be mindful itself. (p. 47)

-I have to admit that ever since I started to rip-up the lawns of rich people I have felt a lot calmer!

No, no, it's not all random, if it was really random, the universe would abandon us completely, and the universe doesn't. It takes care of its most fragile creations in ways we can't see.

I'm very proud of my daughter. She accomplished a whole lot in the short time that she had here... she was a very wonderful person.

People are interested in crime fiction when they're quite distanced from crime. People in Darfur are not reading murder mysteries.

San Francisco can no longer afford to be a city divided between downtown and neighborhoods, with a downtown that becomes a ghost town when workers go home for the evening

I don't have a problem with being a woman. Women's bodies are so beautiful.

One should not be too severe on English novels; they are the only relaxation of the intellectually unemployed.

Nature has a great simplicity and therefore a great beauty.

People can be ignorant and still have loving, human qualities.

Every day that we wake up is a good day. Every breath that we take is filled with hope for a better day. Every word that we speak is a chance to change what is bad into something good.