To be deeply in love is, of course, a great liberating force.

Men kick friendship around like a football, but it doesn't seem to crack. Women treat it like glass and it goes to pieces.

The signs that presage growth, so similar, it seems to me, to those in early adolescence: discontent, restlessness, doubt, despair, longing, are interpreted falsely as signs of decay. In youth one does not as often misinterpret the signs; one accepts them, quite rightly, as growing pains. One takes them seriously, listens to them, follows where they lead. ... But in the middle age, because of the false assumption that it is a period of decline, one interprets these life-signs, paradoxically, as signs of approaching death.

The sea does not reward those who are too anxious, too greedy, or too impatient. One should lie empty, open, choiceless as a beach - waiting for a gift from the sea.

One must go through periods of numbness that are harder to bear than grief.

Cut asparagus at night - in desperation. When one is very tired one always does one more thing.

The nicest gifts are those left, nameless and quiet, unburdened with love, or vanity, or the desire for attention.