To be free, to come to terms with our lives, we have to have a direct experience of ourselves as we really are, warts and all.

The picture we present to ourselves of who we think we ought to be obscures who we really are.

Awakening does not mean a change in difficulty, it means a change in how those difficulties are met.

To recognize that the greatest error is not to have tried and failed, but that in trying, we did not give it our best effort

In this moment, there is plenty of time. In this moment, you are precisely as you should be. In this moment, there is infinite possibility. (17)

We should have a debt that grows our productivity, we cant borrow to pay salaries. I can borrow to build power plants.

Do what you do as well as you possibly can. That's Buddhist morality.

Couture gowns are like gremlins; you can't expose them to bright light or get them wet.

It's painful to consider anything but writing.

Novelists are stamina merchants, grinders, nine-to-fivers, and their career curves follow the usual arc of human endeavour.

You seem to be attracted to trouble," he said. "Yeah, she's real pretty," I replied. "Your tongue is sharper than mine ever was." I stuck out my tongue and tried to look at the tip of it.

People are predominant in my paintings. Although they are not obvious, you can feel their presence.

If at all possible, commune with nature daily.