Adolescence-is it the first time in life we discover that we have something terrible to hide from those who love us?

You don't have to be in the habit of going to church to listen to such a literary minister; you don't have to be a believer to be moved by Mr. Buechner's faith.

Children are most impressed with the importance of a moment when they witness a parent breaking the parents' own rule.

… and so he tried to accept the ache in his heart as what Dr. Larch would call the common symptoms of normal life.

We often need to lose sight of our priorities in order to see them.

In increments both measurable and not, our childhood is stolen from us -- not always in one momentous event but often in a series of small robberies, which add up to the same loss.

Nothing bears out in practice what it promises incipiently.