the story of any one of us is in some measure the story of us all

The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.

Your vocation in life is where your greatest joy meets the world's greatest need.

We find by losing. We hold fast by letting go. We become something new by ceasing to be something old.

Pay attention to the things that bring a tear to your eye or a lump in your throat because they are signs that the holy is drawing near.

Pay mind to your own life, your own health, and wholeness. A bleeding heart is of no help to anyone if it bleeds to death.

In his holy flirtation with the world, God occasionally drops a handkerchief. These handkerchiefs are called saints.

The life I touch for good or ill will touch another life, and in turn another, until who knows where the trembling stops or in what far place my touch will be felt.

Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid.

The world says, The more you take, the more you have. Christ says, the more you give, the more you are.

The grace of God means something like: Here is your life. You might never have been, but you are because the party wouldn't have been complete without you.

She searched her mind for a single day when it had felt good to be alive. There must have been one, surely?

The question is precisely to know whether the past has ceased to exist, or ceased to be useful...

Science is a differential equation. Religion is a boundary condition.

There are bad types and good types, and the whole science and art of typography begins after the first category has been set aside.

Book writing is a little different because, in my case, my editor is a year younger than me and basically has the same sensibility as me.

Obviously I still gig on my own, but I've always heard my music with a band.

Don't be silly. I'm a mature, intelligent woman. Of course I'm afraid of my mother.

It sometimes takes 6 months or more after you've written and recorded it before you can start to enjoy the experience of singing the song.

Applause is the beginning of abuse

You have to pay attention to the moment and make it the best it can be for you. I've been trying to do that. It's really made a major difference for me. I'm a happier person.