There was such a thing as women's work and it consisted chiefly, Hilary sometimes thought, in being able to stand constant interruption and keep your temper. . . .

We are all jellyfish, too pitiful and too afraid of being disliked to be honest.

Everything that slows us down and forces patience, everything that sets us back into the slow circles of nature, is a help. Gardening is an instrument of grace.

Without darkness, nothing comes to birth, As without light, nothing flowers.

What is destructive is impatience, haste, expecting too much too fast.

We have to dare to be ourselves, however frightening or strange that self may prove to be.

The minute one utters a certainty, the opposite comes to mind.

The most valuable thing we can do for the psyche, occasionally, is to let it rest, wander, live in the changing light of room, not try to be or do anything whatever.

There are some griefs so loud/They could bring down the sky/And there are griefs so still/None knows how deep they lie.

A house that does not have one warm, comfy chair in it is soulless.

It is, I assume, quite easy to wither into old age, and hard to grow into it.

We are products of time

If we connect with nature, we can reconstruct our soul, spirit and strength.

You do everything by the book, like everybody else, you get the same results s everybody else.

A lot of mothers will do anything for their children, except let them be themselves.

Any story that you tell about yourself causes suffering. There is no authentic story.

The wavering mind is but a base possession.

The minute someone tells you you have cancer, it's kind of like you die. You really do die. It's like you get that you're mortal.

It's nice not to have lines when you frown, especially on TV. I don't know why people make such a fuss about it. No one is interested if a woman has her teeth capped or her hair dyed.

I found people looked better when they laughed

Everything, both mental and physical, is rigidly bound by the law of causation.