I thought that love was a river, endless and deep. I thought it merely happened, washing over you like water. It was nothing to search for, nothing to force. I didn't understand that even when we can't control our fate, we alone have the last say in matters of the heart. We can give it freely, even in the worst of times, even when it isn't returned.

Weapons are kept from women, but such a naming suggests that perhaps men fear our talents in war as well as our desire for peace.

My mother's blood that would last forever after. The blood of my brother, my grandfather, my father.

Young people believe that regret is something you will never feel if you simply do as you please, but sometimes it is a matter of degree.

I wrote to find beauty and purpose, to know that love is possible and lasting and real, to see day lilies and swimming pools, loyalty and devotion, even though my eyes were closed, and all that surrounded me was a darkened room. I wrote because that was who I was at the core, and if I was too damaged to walk around the block, I was lucky all the same. Once I got to my desk, once I started writing, I still believed anything was possible.

I wept to think that life went on even when so much had been lost, that rain still fell and myrtle grew between the rocks.

Avoid men who call you Baby, and women who have no friends, and dogs that scratch at their bellies and refuse to lie down at your feet. Wear dark glasses; bathe with lavender oil and cool fresh water. Seek shelter from the sun at noon.