The cynic sees only cynicism, the depressive can taint creation with one glance

I like trains. I like their rhythm, and I like the freedom of being suspended between two places, all anxieties of purpose taken care of: for this moment I know where I am going.

There are no people who are whole" he says. "Everyone has issues of their own to deal with. Mine might be a little harder, but the main thing is how on deals with them.

Most people have no imagination. If they could imagine the sufferings of others, they would not make them suffer so.

Betrayal clearly has its own reward: the small deep human satisfaction of having one up on someone else. It is the psychology of the mistress, and this regime used it as fuel.

Memory, like so much else, is unreliable. Not only for what it hides and what it alters, but also for what it reveals.

one does not remember one’s own pain. It is the suffering of others that undoes us

At the end of our lives it is our loves we remember most, because they are what shaped us. We have grown to be who we are around them, as around a stake.

I am a woman on her way to eat cake.

Per capita the East Germans drank more than twice as much as their West German counterparts.

I had very good eyes once. Though it's another thing to say what I saw. In my experience, it is entirely possible to watch something happen and not to see it at all.

Fear of new ideas breeds angry head spiders that have been known to attack.

When one becomes centered in love, then and only then will all paths become open to them

You're about as delicate as an AK-47.

The English are always ready to admire anything so long as they can queue up.

As God loves a cheerful giver, so he also loves a cheerful taker. Who takes hold of his gifts with a glad heart.

Cooking is a great way to get back in touch with things that brought us comfort.

There is satisfaction in seeing one's household prosper; in being both bountiful and provident.

This wild swan of a world is no hunter's game.

There are few persons of greater worth than their reputation; but how many are there whose worth is far short of their reputation!