A book, too, can be a star, a living fire to lighten the darkness, leading out into the expanding universe.

To write for children at all is an act of faith.

Integrity, like humility, is a quality which vanishes the moment we are conscious of it in ourselves. We see it only in others.

It takes too much energy to be against something unless it's really important.

Severe illness isolates those in close contact with it, because it inevitably narrows the focus of concern. To a certain extent this can lead to healing, but not if the circle of concern is so tight that it cannot be broken into, or out of.

When a bride insists on telling her lover everything, I suspect she is looking for a father, not a husband.

It's a very American trait, this wanting people to think well of us. It's a young want, and I am ashamed of it in myself. I am not always a good daughter, even though my lacks are in areas different from her complaints. Haven't I learned yet that the desire to be perfect is always disastrous and, at the least, loses me in the mire of false guilt?