Whatever landscape a child is exposed to early on, that will be the sort of gauze through which he or she will see all the world afterwards.

[Friendship] is a relationship that has no formal shape, there are no rules or obligations or bonds as in marriage or the family, it is held together by neither law nor property nor blood, there is no glue in it but mutual liking. It is therefore rare.

Young writers should be encouraged to write, and discouraged from thinking they are writers. If they arrive at college with literary ambitions, they should be told that everything they have done since their first childhood poems, printed in the school paper, has been preparation for entering a long, long apprenticeship.

The meeting of writer and reader is an intimate act, and it properly takes place in private.

How much wilderness do the wilderness-lovers want? ask those who would mine and dig and cut and dam in such sanctuary spots as these. The answer is easy: Enough so that there will be in the years ahead a little relief, a little quiet, a little relaxation, for any of our increasing millions who need and want it.

Be proud of every scar on your heart, each one holds a lifetime’s worth of lessons.

I am impressed by how much of my grandparent's life depended on continuities, contacts, connections, friendships, and blood relationships.