There's a difference between bravery and rash stupidity.

He must have smiled at me, though I don't really know, but I don't like to think that I would love someone who hadn't first smiled at me.

At the time I was taught to read, it was an Eden-like time of my life. My mother adored me. Everyone adored me. So I associate reading with enormous pleasure.

...yet a memory cannot be trusted, for so much of the experience of the past is determined by the experience of the present.

Another thing I like to say to my students is this: "How many Corinthians read Paul's letters?" The answer is none. They couldn't have cared less! There aren't even any Corinthians left, but Paul's letters persist. Paul was not a professional writer. He was called to something, and he sent his letters. That's a good way to look at it. That you might be making something that nobody cares about, but you have to do it. It's not that people should care, but that you should care.

I was then at the height of my two-facedness: that is, outside I seemed one way, inside I was another; outside false, inside true.

I loved Charlotte Bronte when I was little, and I wanted to be Charlotte Bronte the way people want to be a princess.