If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don’t hesitate. Give in to it.

I was hurrying through my own soul . . . I was leaning out . . . I was listening.

Come with me into the woods where spring is advancing, as it does, no matter what, not being singular or particular, but one of the forever gifts, and certainly visible.

Still, what I want in my life is to be willing to be dazzled-to cast aside the weight of facts and maybe even to float a little above this difficult world. I want to believe I am looking into the white fire of a great mystery. I want to believe that the imperfections are nothing-that the light is everything-that it is more than the sum of each flawed blossom rising and fading. And I do.

Sometimes I spend all day trying to count the leaves on a single tree... Of course I have to give up, but by then I'm half crazy with the wonder of it--the abundance of the leaves, the quietness of the branches, the hopelessness of my effort. And I am in that delicious and important place, roaring with laughter, full of earth-praise.

Don't we all die someday and someday comes all too soon? What will you do with your own wild, glorious chance at this thing we call life.

You must not ever stop being whimsical. And you must not, ever, give anyone else the responsibility for your life.