I remember my childhood names for grasses and secret flowers. I remember where a toad may live and what time the birds awaken in the summer -- and what trees and seasons smelled like -- how people looked and walked and smelled even. The memory of odors is very rich.

Misfortune is a fact of nature acceptable to women, especially when it falls on other women.

What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.

When I was very young and the urge to be someplace was on me, I was assured by mature people that maturity would cure this itch.

A boy becomes a man when a man is needed

Fella in business got to lie an' cheat, but he calls it somepin else. That's what's important. You go steal that tire an' you're a thief, but he tried to steal your four dollars for a busted tire. They call that sound business.

You can't slice up morals.