Nothing smelled so good or danced so well as a birch fire.

What I have come to believe is that joy is the twin sister of gratitude. I am most joyful when I am most grateful.

February is just plain malicious. It knows your defenses are down.

Everything comes in useful once in a hundred years.

We book people are always preaching about reading aloud to children, but unless you do, you can't realize how it enriches family life.

My heart is heavy, she thought. It’s not just a saying. It is what is—heavy, a great stone lodged in my breast, pressing down my whole being. How can I even stand straight and look out upon the world? I am doubled over into myself and, for all the weight, find only emptiness.

life ain't supposed to be nothing, 'cept maybe tough