When I start a new seminar I tell my students that I will undoubtedly contradict myself, and that I will mean both things. But an acceptance of contradiction is no excuse for fuzzy thinking. We do have to use our minds as far as they will take us, yet acknowledge that they cannot take use all the way.

Unlearning is the choice, conscious or unconscious, of any real artist. And it is the true sign of maturity.

But my memories are like a fire in winter—whenever I'm cold I can warm my hands at them. —Ditta

I got so discouraged, I almost stopped writing. It was my 12-year-old son who changed my mind when he said to me, "Mother, you've been very cross and edgy with us and we notice you haven't been writing. We wish you'd go back to the typewriter. That did a lot of good for my false guilts about spending so much time writing. At that point, I acknowledged that I am a writer and even if I were never published again, that's what I am."

Truth is eternal. Knowledge is changeable. It is disastrous to confuse them.

On the other side of pain, there is still love.

When we believe in the impossible, it becomes possible, and we can do all kinds of extraordinary things.