The seeds of death get lost in the mess that God made us.

Their desire was silent yet magnificent, like a thousand daisies attuning their faces toward the path of the sun.

I always work in a room where there's no Internet to keep from being distracted so easily.

In the end, it wasn't death that surprised her but the stubbornness of life.

It's often said that a traumatic experience early in life marks a person forever, pulls her out of line, saying, "Stay there. Don't move.

Emotions, in my experience aren't covered by single words. I don't believe in "sadness," "joy," or "regret." I'd like to have at my disposal complicated hybrid emotions, Germanic traincar constructions like, say, "the happiness that attends disaster." Or: "the disappointment of sleeping with one's fantasy." ... I'd like to have a word for "the sadness inspired by failing restaurants" as well as for "the excitement of getting a room with a minibar." I've never had the right words to describe my life.

Sourmelina's secret (as Aunt Zo put it): 'Lina was one of those women they named the island after.