Here are the two best prayers I know: 'Help me, help me, help me' and 'Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Gorgeous, amazing things come into our lives when we are paying attention: mangoes, grandnieces, Bach, ponds. This happens more often when we have as little expectation as possible. If you say, "Well, that's pretty much what I thought I'd see," you are in trouble. At that point you have to ask yourself why you are even here. [...] Astonishing material and revelation appear in our lives all the time. Let it be. Unto us, so much is given. We just have to be open for business.

I've written six novels and four pieces of nonfiction, so I don't really have a genre these days.

Expectations are resentment waiting to happen.

These days cry out, as never before, for us to pay attention, so we can move through them and get our joy and pride back.

We all know we're going to die; what's important is the kind of men and women we are in the face of this.

Forgiveness means it finally becomes unimportant that you hit back. You're done. It doesn't necessarily mean that you want to have lunch with the person. If you keep hitting back, you stay trapped in the nightmare.