I'm sometimes afraid I'll cross a line and it'll be difficult to come back, say, to dinner.

In a way, a garden is the most useless of creations, the most slippery of creations: it is not like a painting or a piece of sculpture-it won't accrue value as time goes on. Time is its enemy' time passing is merely the countdown for the parting between garden and gardener.

Writing is not a profession. It's a calling. It's almost holy.

Gardening is really an extended form of reading, of history and philosophy. The garden itself has become like writing a book. I walk around and walk around. Apparently people often see me standing there and they wave to me and I don't see them because I am reading the landscape.

when people say you're charming you are in deep trouble.

I'm trying to earn a living in the way that is most enjoyable to me. I love the world of literature, and I hope to support myself in it.

My disappointments stand up and grow ever taller. They will not be lost to me.