If we aren't capable of being hurt we aren't capable of feeling joy.

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.

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.

We can't take any credit for our talents. It's how we use them that counts.

For the things that are seen are temporal, but things that are unseen are eternal.

I like the fact that in ancient Chinese art the great painters always included a deliberate flaw in their work: human creation is never perfect.

Love of music, of sunsets and sea; a liking for the same kind of people; political opinions that are not radically divergent; a similar stance as we look at the stars and think of the marvelous strangeness of the universe - these are what build a marriage. And it is never to be taken for granted.