All artists dream of a silence which they must enter, as some creatures return to the sea to spawn.

Love can't always do work. Sometimes it just has to look into the darkness.

It is in the capacity to love, that is to SEE, that the liberation of the soul from fantasy consists. The freedom which is a proper human goal is the freedom from fantasy, that is the realism of compassion. What I have called fantasy, the proliferation of blinding self-centered aims and images, is itself a powerful system of energy, and most of what is often called 'will' or 'willing' belongs to this system. What counteracts the system is attention to reality inspired by, consisting of, love.

Every book is the wreck of a perfect idea.

Nothing is more maddening than being questioned by the object of one's interest about the object of hers, should that object not be you.

We shall be better prepared for the future if we see how terrible, how doomed the present is.

Of course reading and thinking are important but, my God, food is important too. How fortunate we are to be food-consuming animals. Each meal should be a treat and one ought to bless every day which brings with it a good digestion and the precious gift of hunger.