We have a moral obligation to be interesting, for our gospel is loaded with life-and-death interest for people.

No one can whistle a symphony. It takes a whole orchestra to play it.

No one can whistle a symphony.

I believe in comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable.

The aim of preaching is not the elucidation of a subject, but the transformation of a person. Our task is the sharing of intense faith and experience.

The Christian message is not an exhortation - "try hard to be good." Good advice, but there is no saving gospel in that.

Especially as I was an old friend, or at least I was a person she had known for a long time, which after a certain point is almost the same thing...

Whoever says that all music is prohibited, let him also claim that the songs of birds are prohibited.

I tried the Atkins diet in the Seventies when pregnant with my son, as I didn't want to pile on the pounds. Now, so long as I'm healthy, I don't care what my scales say.

I read Freud's Introductory Lectures in Psychoanalysis in basically one sitting. I decided to enroll in medical school. It was almost like a conversion experience.

I'd rather have more heart than talent any day.

If Christianity was something we were making up, of course we could make it easier. But it is not.

When you're a young poet, reading is a search for your lost family.

Do I have to talk to insane people?" "You're a librarian now. I'm afraid it's mandatory.

I talk to friends who get their feelings hurt when they read Twitter mentions. I have an amazing solution - don't read Twitter mentions.

We must cultivate our own garden.