Too many people, too many demands, too much to do; competent, busy, hurrying people – It just isn’t living at all.
The artist knows he must be alone to create; the writer, to work out his thoughts; the musician, to compose; the saint, to pray. But women need solitude in order to find again the true essence of themselves.
Purposeful giving is not as apt to deplete one’s resources; it belongs to that natural order of giving that seems to renew itself even in the act of depletion.
Cut asparagus at night – in desperation. When one is very tired one always does one more thing.
The present is passed over in the race for the future; the here is neglected in favor of the there. Enjoy the moment, even if it means merely a walk in the country.
The collector walks with blinders on; he sees nothing but the prize. In fact, the acquisitive instinct is incompatible with true appreciation of beauty.
If one talks to more than four people, it is an audience; and one cannot really think or exchange thoughts with an audience.
No new sect ever had humor; no disciples either, even the disciples of Christ.
Woman must be the pioneer in this turning inward for strength. In a sense, she has always been the pioneer.
Woman’s normal occupations in general run counter to creative life, or contemplative life, or saintly life.
To me there is something completely and satisfyingly restful in that stretch of sea and sand, sea and sand and sky – complete peace, complete fulfillment.
If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea...
We must relearn to be alone.
What a crippling art writing is, no body to it, no craft, really. It’s all in the mind and you never see it or feel it – only sometimes hear it. It uses only such a small part of man. I wish I were a sculptor.
We tend not to choose the unknown, which might be a shock or a disappointment or simply a little difficult to cope with. An yet it is the unknown with all its disappointments and surprises that is the most enriching.
Marriage is tough, because it is woven of all these various elements, the weak and the strong. “In love-ness” is fragile for it is woven only with the gossamer threads of beauty. It seems to me absurd to talk about “happy” and “unhappy” marriages.
God may want you to be the answer to your own prayer.
God often used bitter experiences to make us better. Gold can be a helpful servant, but a cruel master.
Marriage should, I think, always be a little bit hard and new and strange. It should be breaking your shell and going into another world, and a bigger one.
And one perfect day can give clues for a more perfect life.