When you do the first half of life well, you have a good sense of yourself.

The morning glories and the sunflowers turn naturally toward the light, but we have to be taught, it seems.

All great spirituality is about what we do with our pain. If we do not transform our pain, we will transmit it to those around us.

We do not think ourselves into new ways of living, we live ourselves into new ways of thinking.

The journey to happiness involves finding the courage to go down into ourselves and take responsibility for what's there: all of it.

Religion is one of the safest places to hide from God.

The path of descent is the path of transformation. Darkness, failure, relapse, death, and woundedness are our primary teachers, rather than ideas or doctrines.

God is always bigger than the boxes we build for God, so we should not waste too much time protecting the boxes.

Maturity is the ability to joyfully live in an imperfect world.

There is nothing to prove and nothing to protect. I am who I am and it's enough.

You come to God not by being strong, but by being weak; not by being right, but through your mistakes.

People who read your ideas tend to think that your writings reflect your life.

The basic thing is, how frightened are you of chaos? And how happy are you with order?

I am moved by the multitudes of your intelligence and sometimes, returning, I become the sea— in love with your speed, your heaviness and breath.

To my surprise, my 70s are nicer than my 60s and my 60s than my 50s, and I wouldn't wish my teens and 20s on my enemies.

A finished product is one that has already seen its better days.

If you're in pitch blackness, all you can do is sit tight until your eyes get used to the dark.

I am big into water sports and just being out on the water. That is second nature to me, being from Florida.

I'm not really an actress.

Poets are like steam valves, where the ordinary feelings of ordinary people can escape and be shown.

Things are always given to us when we need them... You just have to decide if you're strong enough, brave enough, to seize it and make it yours. (Acheron)