Like most people, most Westerners anyway, I have a sneaking suspicion I am immortal.

Gardeners, I think, dream bigger dreams than Emperor's.

the hymns were born in the fifteenth or sixteenth century or earlier, and listening to them was like licking an icicle: the same chill, the same purity.

I was, after all, the daughter of a man who believed that to be involved with books was to live at the heart of light, and the former wife of a man who shared his faith.

The universe is vast because, it has accepted everything. Every entity is supplement to the other.

she is the only woman I've ever known who could make a man call.Ever

Happiness is impossible for longer than 15 minutes. We are the descendants of creatures who, above all else, worried.

What is green? The grass is green, With small flowers between. What is violet? Clouds are violet In the summer twilight. What is orange? Why, an orange, Just an orange!

Pessimists are not boring. Pessimists are right. Pessimists are superfluous.

The gap between what is popular and what is righteous is widening.

I played a lot of leaders, autocratic sorts; perhaps it was my Canadian accent.

Friendship should be surrounded with ceremonies and respects, and not crushed into corners.

I came from a house full of books, so I took reading for granted. I was an outdoorsy little kid, too, so I got the best of both worlds by taking books up trees and reading there.

It is true that we are called to create a better world. But we are first of all called to a more immediate and exalted task: that of creating our own lives.