A student brings something to discuss, saying, "I don't know whether this is really good, or whether I should throw it in the wastebasket." The assumption is that one or the other choice is the right move. No. Almost everything we say or think or do - or write - comes in that spacious human area bounded by something this side of the sublime and something above the unforgivable.

There are so many things admirable people do not understand.

Even the upper end of the river believes in the ocean.

The more you let yourself be distracted from where you are going, the more you are the person that you are. It's not so much like getting lost as it is like getting found.

You can treat experience as a set of surprises on which to exercise your quirky self.

You don't need many words if you already know what you're talking about

An owl sound wandered along the road with me. I didn't hear it--I breathed it into my ears.