a mother-in-law's praise says more in a woman's favor than anything else in the world.

A parting is sadder than a death, Ma always said, for two people are dead to one another and yet go on living.

Mouths talk without authority sometimes.

a heart may be lifted up and cast down in the same moment, as sometimes sunshine comes while rain is falling and builds upward in the sky tall reaches of misty, unlikely beauty.

Pity makes a thin drink, indeed.

The awful part of the writing game is that you can never be sure the stuff is any good.

A poem, novel, or play acquires all of humanity's disorders, including the fear of mortality

God, the Creator of everything, is not a person but a power and presence whose work is based on definite principles which we call ‘Cosmic Laws’ or ‘Natural Laws’ or ‘Universal Laws’.

We sin not because we do not love Christ at all but because we don’t love him above all.

I'm just playing ball. Trying not to think about it too much.

Traditionalists will have to master techniques of sustained activism formerly monopolized by the left.

Time brought resignation and a melancholy sweeter than common joy.

My instinct is to assume that we consumers are an inconsistent bunch. We like competition if it delivers low prices, but grumble if it delivers the bad news that prices need to go up.

God does not answer our desperate questionings; he simply gives us himself.

There can never be any substitute for your own palate nor any better education than tasting the wine yourself.