I started adding up all the things I couldn't do.

I love life. But it is hard and I have so much, so very much to learn.

But everybody has exactly the same smiling frightened face, with the look that says: "I'm important. If you only get to know me, you will see how important I am. Look into my eyes. Kiss me, and you will see how important I am.

Well, I know now. I know a little more how much a simple thing like a snowfall can mean to a person

I decided I would put off the novel until I had gone to Europe and had a lover, and that I would never learn a word of shorthand. If I never learned shorthand I would never have to use it.

The first time I saw a fingerbowl was at the home of my benefactress. [...] The water had a few cherry blossoms in it, and I thought it must be some clear sort of Japanese after-dinner soup and ate every bit of it, including the crisp little blossoms.

I laid my face to the smooth face of the marble and howled my loss into the cold salt rain.