I have noticed that if you look carefully at people's eyes the first five seconds they look at you, the truth of their feelings will shine through for just an instant before it flickers away.

Loss takes up inside of everything sooner or later and eats right through it.

It was the first time I'd ever said the words to another person, and the sound of them broke open my heart.

Nobody around here had ever seen a lady beekeeper till her. She liked to tell everybody that women made the best beekeepers, 'cause they have a special ability built into them to love creatures that sting. It comes from years of loving children and husbands.

Probably one or two moments in your whole life you will hear a dark whispering spirit, a voice coming from the center of things. It will have blades for lips and will not stop until it speaks the one secret thing at the heart of it all. Kneeling on the floor, unable to stop shuddering, I heard it plainly. It said, You are unlovable.

For me, creativity is essentially a spiritual experience, a conversation between my soul and me.

There's nothing like a song about lost love to remind you how everything precious can slip from the hinges where you've hung it so careful.