So sadness is a place?' Giovanni asked. 'Sometimes people live there for years,'I said.

A true soul mate is a mirror, the person who shows you everything that is holding you back, the person who brings you to your own attention so you can change your life.

I've never seen any life transformation that didn't begin with the person in question finally getting tired of their own bullshit.

Tis' better to live your own life imperfectly than to imitate someone else's perfectly.

Stop wearing your wishbone where your backbone ought to be.

I'm choosing happiness over suffering, I know I am. I'm making space for the unknown future to fill up my life with yet-to-come surprises.

This is a good sign, having a broken heart. It means we have tried for something.

There's always another level up. There's always another ascension. More grace, more light, more generosity, more compassion, more to shed, more to grow.

You were given life; it is your duty (and also your entitlement as a human being) to find something beautiful within life, no matter how slight.

Never forget that once upon a time, in an unguarded moment, you recognized yourself as a friend.

If you're going to answer the call and you're going to transform and you're going to change, get ready. It is not a day at the beach.

Self-confidence is contagious.

Across the rectory's east lawn, through a blizzard of flying leaves, something long and thin was flapping in the wind. A ragged figure in a white nightgown hanging lifelessly from the trees.

You have to respect all your competitors.

First and foremost arms are tools in the service of rival nations, pointing at the possibility of a future war.

Once you are my friend, I am responsible for you.

What's the point in being an unpopular writer? It just doesn't make a lot of sense. For me it doesn't, anyway.

My sister discovered the Beatles when she was about 11 and I'm four years younger. So we had nothing but Beatles paraphernalia. Every night I fell asleep to a different Beatles album.

My father could look straight ahead but concentrate on something on the very edge of his vision, almost nearly behind him.

I didn't want to be a woman artist. I just wanted to be an artist.

Even in my music, I am always searching for big, universal things - ways that you can sort of reach outside the norm of what you are doing.