I wished she'd been smart enough, or loving enough, to realize everybody has burdens that crush them, only they don't give up their children.

My mother's life was way too heavy for me.

And when you get down to it, Lily, that is the only purpose grand enough for a human life. Not just to love but to persist in love.

When you can't go forward, and you can't go backward, and you can't stay where you are without killing off something deep and vital in yourself, you are on the edge of creation.

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

My ultimate authority is the divine voice in my own soul. Period.

Sunset is the saddest light there is.