That's why there are ten gates to pass through before you reach the garden. If life were easy there would be one gate. There would be no gates at all.

A red map isn't easy to follow. Any document made of blood and bones is tricky. Wrong turns are easily made, and there are often piles of stones in the road. A person has to disregard time and sorrow and all the damage done. If you follow, if you dare, the thread always leads to whomever or whatever you've forgotten.

I think we are bound to, and by, nature. We may want to deny this connection and try to believe we control the external world, but every time there's a snowstorm or drought, we know our fate is tied to the world around us

It was the sort of beauty you feel so deeply it becomes contagious and somehow makes you feel beautiful too.

No one knows you like a person with whom you've shared a childhood. No one will ever understand you in quite the same way.

There was the blue sky above her and all those many roses, the ones that gave off the scent of cloves in the rain and the ones that left a trace of lemon on your fingers, the ones that were the color of blood, and those that were as white as clouds. Each one was sweeter than the next and as red as gemstones.

Some fates are guaranteed, no matter who tries to intervene.