It is utterly naive, futile, uninformed—to think that our species is exceptional. So designated to master the beasts of the Earth, as in the Book of Genesis!

Hospital vigils inspire us to such nostalgia. Hospital vigils take place in slow-time during which the mind floats free, a frail balloon drifting into the sky as into infinity.

That I was sleeping at a time when my husband was dying is so horrible a thought, I can’t confront it.

She will speculate that she didn’t fully know her husband—this will give her leverage to seek him, to come to know him. It will keep her husband “alive” in her memory—elusive, teasing.

How exhausted I am suddenly!—though this has been Ray’s best day in the hospital so far, and we are feeling—almost—exhilarated.

It is the most horrific thought—my husband died among strangers.

The coolly calibrated manipulation of the credulous American public, by an administration bent upon stoking paranoid patriotism!

The gardener is the quintessential optimist: not only does he believe that the future will bear out the fruits of his efforts, he believes in the future.

For writing is a solitary occupation, and one of its hazards is loneliness. But an advantage of loneliness is privacy, autonomy, freedom.

When I first met you, that's what I remember. I looked up at the sky and thought, I'm going to love this person because even the sky looks different.

We are all warned to read labels. The salutary truth is that we shouldn't be eating anything that has a label on it!

Indifference to evil is more insidious than evil itself. It is a silent justification affording evil acceptability in society.

Oldtimers, weekends, and airplane landings are alike. If you can walk away from them, they're successful.

Men of great and shining qualities do not always succeed in life, but the fault lies more often in themselves than in others.

Open your heart. Don't be spiteful.

The most transformative and gentle humility and pride. But they transform in opposite ways.

I only eat one meal a day. Lunch, not dinner.

Any problems with your flight? (Acheron) I didn’t eat my pilot if that’s what you mean. And little Nicky here is still breathing and not bleeding. (Zarek)

There are no take-backs—just as in life. You must think before you move.