I stood willingly and gladly in the characters of everything - other people, trees, clouds. And this is what I learned, that the world's otherness is antidote to confusion - that standing within this otherness - the beauty and the mystery of the world, out in the fields or deep inside books - can re-dignify the worst-stung heart.

Things take the time they take. don't worry. How many roads did St. Augustine follow before he became St. Augustine?

So come to the pond, or the river of your imagination, or the harbor of your longing, and put your lips to the world. And live your life.

I tell you this to break your heart, by which I mean only that it break open and never close again to the rest of the world.

You are young. So you know everything. You leap into the boat and begin rowing. But, listen to me. Without fanfare, without embarrassment, without doubt,I talk directly to your soul. Listen to me.

Tell me what it is you plan to do with your one wild and precious life? When it's over, I want to say: all my life I was a bride, married to amazement. I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms. Instructions for living a life: pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.

I know many lives worth living.