I love my mother, not as a prisoner of atherosclerosis, but as a person; and I must love her enough to accept her as she is, now, for as long as this dwindling may take.

Life, with its rules, its obligations, and its freedoms, is like a sonnet: You're given the form, but you have to write the sonnet yourself. - Mrs. Whatsit

Now I am setting out into the unknown. It will take me a long while to work through the grief. There are no shortcuts; it has to be gone through.

Love can't be pinned down by a definition, and it certainly can't be proved, any more than anything else important in life can be proved.

Reading is a creative activity. You have to visualize the characters, you have to hear what the voices sound like.

This wasn't the first time that I'd come close to death, but it was the first time I'd been involved in this part of it, this strange, terrible saying goodbye to someone you've loved.

She began to feel the sense of wonderful elation that always came to her when beauty took hold of her and made her forget her fears.