You make choices that are good and sound, but the gods have other plans for you.

Sisters, as you know, also have a unique relationship. This is the person who has known you your entire life, who should love you and stand by you no matter what, and yet it's your sister who knows exactly where to drive the knife to hurt you the most.

When you don’t have much, having less isn’t so bad.

I think sometimes as an adult, you take people for what they do, and what they are now, instead of the whole picture of their lives.

Read a thousand books, and your words will flow like a river.

Our words had to be circumspect. We could not write anything too negative about our circumstances. This was tricky, since the very form of a married woman's letter needed to include the usual complaints -- that we were pathetic, powerless, worked to the bone, homesick, and sad. We were supposed to speak directly about our feelings without appearing ungrateful, no-account, or unfilial.

The greatest calling of all is to have a literary life.