Reading, therefore, is a co-production between writer and reader. The simplicity of this tool is astounding. So little, yet out of it whole worlds, eras, characters, continents, people never encountered before, people you wouldn’t care to sit next to in a train, people that don’t exist, places you’ve never visited, enigmatic fates, all come to life in the mind, painted into existence by the reader’s creative powers. In this way the creativity of the writer calls up the creativity of the reader. Reading is never passive.

One of the greatest gifts my father gave me - unintentionally - was witnessing the courage with which he bore adversity.

Don't neglect the gold in your own back yard.

We have not yet arrived, but every point at which we stop requires a re-definition of our destination.

We disliked the rigours of existence, the unfulfilled longings, the enshrined injustices of the world, the labyrinths of love, the ignorance of parents, the fact of dying, and the amazing indifference of the Living in the midst of the simple beauties of the universe. We feared the heartlessness of human beings, all of whom are born blind, few of whom ever learn to see.

Don't read what everyone else is reading. Check them out later, cautiously.

I learned that life will go through changes - up and down and up again. It's what life does.