I've come to see conspiracy theories as the refuge of those who have lost their natural curiosity and ability to cope with change.

Before you begin a thing, remind yourself that difficulties and delays quite impossible to foresee are ahead. If you could see them clearly, naturally you could do a great deal to get rid of them but you can't. You can only see one thing clearly and that is your goal. Form a mental vision of that and cling to it through thick and thin.

It's all so beautiful . . . the spring . . . and books and music and fires. . . . Why aren't they enough?

I was taught that I had to 'master' subjects. But who can 'master' beauty, or peace, or joy?

When you are unhappy, is there anything more maddening than to be told that you should be contented with your lot?

Changing husbands is only changing troubles.

Laundry, liturgy and women's work all serve to ground us in the world, and they need not grind us down. Our daily tasks, whether we perceive them as drudgery or essential, life-supporting work, do not define who we are as women or as human beings.