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.

Everything comes in useful once in a hundred years.

I guess real maturity, which most of us never achieve, is when you realize that you're not the center of the universe.

Impressed. Lord. He had nearly drowned.

Mandarin ducks mate for life and will die of loneliness if separated from their chosen mate.

A dream without a plan is just a wish

What a gift of grace to be able to take the chaos from within and from it create some semblance of order.