Grieving, like being blind, is a strange business; you have to learn how to do it. We seek company in mourning, but after the early bursts of tears, after the praises have been spoken, and the good days remembered, and the lament cried, and the grave closed, there is no company in grief. It is a burden borne alone.

Can true function arise from basic dysfunction?

Dragons are more dangerous, and a good deal commoner, than bears. Fantasy is nearer to poetry, to mysticism, and to insanity than naturalistic fiction is. It is a real wilderness, and those who go there should not feel too safe.

To break a promise is to deny the reality of the past. Therefore it is to deny the hope of a real future.

Love does not obey the mind, and turns to hate when forced.

I never knew anybody . . . who found life simple. I think a life or a time looks simple when you leave out the details.

Sometimes you must go against the wheel's turn.