And when I raised myself to look at the man who'd spoken, I had a feeling of leaving my misery behind me there on the stone wall.

We must use whatever methods we can to understand the movement of the universe around us and time our actions so that we are not fighting the currents, but moving with them.

What an unbearable sorrow it would be, to realized I'd never really tasted to things I'd eaten, or seen the places I'd been. What life would I have? I would be like the dancer who had practiced since childhood for a performance she would never give.

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.

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

Can't you see? Every step I have taken, since I was that child on the bridge, has been to bring myself closer to you.

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.