To envy is to draw circles that isolate us from others, to take small, bitter trips that diminish the traveler.

We should all have one person who knows how to bless us despite the evidence, Grandmother was that person to me.

one of my earliest joys as a parent lay in knowing that at the end of the day I had once again ushered three babies back to their beds, against the odds, unscathed and peaceful. Happiness was a houseful of safe, inert bodies. Actually, it still is.

I think this is what hooks one to gardening: it is the closest one can come to being present at creation.

To send a letter is a good way to go somewhere, without moving anything but your heart.

Mistakes are the usual bridge between inexperience and wisdom.

If there is any reason to single out artists as being more necessary to our lives than any others, it is because they provide us with light that cannot be extinguished. They go into dark rooms and poke at their souls until the contours of our own are familiar to us.