Water is powerful. It can wash away earth, put out fire, and even destroy iron.

At the temple there is a poem called "Loss" carved into the stone. It has three words, but the poet has scratched them out. You cannot read loss, only feel it.

The swan who goes on living in its parents' tree will die; this is why those who are beautiful and talented bear the burden of finding their own way in the world.

If you aren't the woman I think you are, then this isn't the world I thought it was.

After all, when a stone is dropped into a pond, the water continues quivering even after the stone has sunk to the bottom.

A memoir provides a record not so much of the memoirist as of the memoirist's world.

I've lived my life again just telling it to you.