Faith is belief in what you cannot see or prove or touch. Faith is walking face-first and full-speed into the dark.

I am determined to make the most of this life that I have, damn it - it's that kind of stubbornness I think we all need more of.

The nineteenth century was the last moment in history when a relatively educated layperson could follow what was going on in the world of science and invention to a wide degree. Also, there were no "professionals". This was a time when amateur explorers, naturalists and enthusiasts were are still making major contributions to progress.

I feel like if I were to get another tattoo, it would probably be those two words. Just stubborn, stubborn, stubborn gladness.

That’s the thing about a human life-there’s no control group, no way to ever know how any of us would have turned out if any variables had been changed.

I feel like there are women who are genuinely born to be mothers, and women who are born to be aunties, and women who really probably not should be allowed near children. The tragedy that happens is when any one of those women ends up in the wrong category.

There is hardly a more gracious gift that we can offer somebody than to accept them fully, to love them almost despite themselves.