Human beings who leave behind them no great achievements, but only a series of small kindnesses, have not had wasted lives

Success is not fame or money or the power to bewitch. it is to have created something valuable from your own individuality and skill a garden, an embroidery, a painting, a cake, a life.

After scolding one's cat one looks into its face and is seized by the ugly suspicion that it understood every word. And has filed it for reference.

People meeting for the first time suddenly relax if they find they both have cats. And plunge into anecdote.

Becoming a mother makes you the mother of all children. From now on each wounded, abandoned, frightened child is yours. You live in the suffering mothers of every race and creed and weep with them. You long to comfort all who are desolate.

A dog trusts deeply and so is easily betrayed.

Any cat that misses a mouse pretends it was aiming for the dead leaf.