... as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, the ideal library is in the wish of its maker.

Happiness is the ability to recognize it.

Youth is a silly, vapid state, Old age with fears and ills is rife, This simple boon I beg of Fate - A thousand years of Middle Life.

Insistent advice may develop into interference, and interference, someone has said, is the hind hoof of the devil.

I love the Christmas-tide, and yet, I notice this, each year I live; I always like the gifts I get, But how I love the gifts I give!

A guilty conscience is the mother of invention.

Actions lie louder than words.

Of two evils choose the prettier.

A blunder at the right moment is better than cleverness at the wrong time.

Nonsense makes the heart grow fonder.

Advice is one of those things it is far more blessed to give than to receive.

Can a book make such a difference? Can it change you utterly?I know it can.(First essay from The Book That Changed My Life, edited by Roxanne J. Coady & Joy Johannessen)

It's just that...without the memories, it's all meaningless.

Faith grows with exercise. You see God work miracles.

Mainstream Canadians, what some might call the dominant culture, like to think this racism doesn't happen. It's important to remind people that it does and that we have work to do to end it.

Often I think writing is a sheer paring away of oneself leaving always something thinner, barer, more meagre.

You have to have a hell of a lot of confidence in what you're doing.

I don't like quintessential certitude.

White fragility! White people are so sensitive about race and racial conversations. I feel like I'm always walking on eggshells when I'm around white people.

Los Angeles is not Mexico City, but we have many fine nightclubs and restaurants here. It is enough. One must not aim too high.

The art of art... is simplicity.