The body is a universe in itself and must be held as sacred as anything in creation....It is dangerous to forget the body as sacramental.

Lunches are just not good. They take the heart out of the day and the spaciousness from the morning's work.

I long for the bulbs to arrive, for the early autumn chores are melancholy, but the planting of bulbs is the work of hope and is always thrilling.

Here life goes on, even and monotonous on the surface, full of lightning, of summits and of despair, in its depths. We have now arrived at a stage in life so rich in new perceptions that cannot be transmitted to those at another stage - one feels at the same time full of so much gentleness and so much despair - the enigma of this life grows, grows, drowns one and crushes one, then all of a sudden in a supreme moment of light one becomes aware of the sacred.

Self-respect is nothing to hide behind. When you need it most it isn't there.

Do I think there's life after death? No, I think my books are my life after death.

It is the place of renewal and of safety, where for a little while there will be no harm or attack and, while every sense is nourished, the soul rests.