However time or circumstances may come between mother and her child, their lives are interwoven forever.

Friendship is not diminished by distance or time, by imprisonment or war, by suffering or silence. It is in these things that it roots most deeply.

A dog wakens your heart to joy and companionship.

You are asleep. Deep, deep asleep - and then the world caves in. The cat has leapt from the top window onto your stomach. He is saturated. He is hungry. He taps you into full wakefulness with a sodden paw "Could you open a can?"

A bag of apples, a pot of homemade jam, a scribbled note, a bunch of golden flowers, a coloured pebble, a box of seedlings, an empty scent bottle for the children. . . . Who needs diamonds and van-delivered bouquets?

A teddy bear does not depend upon mechanics to give him the semblance of life. He is loved - and therefore he lives.

The first step to wisdom is to be sure one says and does what one believes.