The life of sensation is the life of greed; it requires more and more. The life of the spirit requires less and less.

How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.

No one escapes the wilderness on the way to the promised land.

At a certain point, you say to the woods, to the sea, to the mountains, the world, Now I am ready. Now I will stop and be wholly attentive. You empty yourself and wait, listening.

A schedule defends from chaos and whim. It is a net for catching days. It is a scaffolding on which a worker can stand and labor with both hands at sections of time.

As a life's work, I would remember everything - everything, against loss. I would go through life like a plankton net.

Experiencing the present purely is being empty and hollow; you catch grace as a man fills his cup under a waterfall.

According to Inuit culture in Greenland, a person possesses six or seven souls. The souls take the form of tiny people scattered throughout the body.

The answer must be, I think, that beauty and grace are performed whether or not we will or sense them. The least we can do is try to be there.

I had been my whole life a bell, and never knew it until at that moment I was lifted and struck.

The dedicated life is worth living. You must give with your whole heart.

I am happy being able to play roles with people my age because once you do something really mature there is no turning back.

When black women stick together, we are the most powerful force in the universe.

Smart people sometimes get stupid, but stupid people never get smart.

Herewith I offer you the Omnipotent Finger of God in the anatomy of a louse: wherein you will find miracles heaped on miracles and will see the wisdom of God clearly manifested in a minute point.

The economy is better than the one President [Barack] Obama inherited, and unemployment is lower, but the unemployment rate gap remains large.

The seeds of genius are in many blogs, but bloggers lack the interest in or understanding of the difference between blogging and fully-formed literary efforts.

What is the appropriate reply to make to a man who says he loves you? Thank you. You are very kind.

Depriving a parent of parental status is as devastating as a criminal conviction.

I think that I could see Darwin having a relationship with Asia.

We stand at Armageddon and we battle for the Lord.