We are the most dangerous species of life on the planet, and every other species, even the earth itself, has cause to fear our power to exterminate. But we are also the only species which, when it chooses to do so, will go to great effort to save what it might destroy.

Values, both those that we approve and those that we don't, have roots as deep as creosote rings, and live as long and grow as slowly

Creation is a knack which is empowered by practice, and like almost any skill, it is lost if you don't practice it.

It is almost impossible to write fiction about the Mormons, for the reason that Mormon institutions and Mormon society are so peculiar that they call for constant explanation.

Salt is added to dried rose petals with the perfume and spices, when we store them away in covered jars, the summers of our past.

But however you might rebel, there was no shedding them. They were your responsibility and there was no one to relieve you of them. They called you Sis. All your life people called you Sis, because that was what you were, or what you became - big sister, helpful sister, the one upon whom everyone depended, the one they all came to for everything from help with homework to a sliver under the fingernail.

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