Do you know what I think about crying? I think some people have to learn to do it. But once you learn, once you know how to really cry, there's nothing quite like it. I feel sorry for those who don't know the trick. It's like whistling or singing.

I was good and bad, but never wicked.

But the sky was never quite the same shade of blue again.

There is one purpose to life and one only: to bear witness to and understand as much as possible of the complexity of the world -- its beauty, its mysteries, its riddles. The more you understand, the more you look, the greater is your enjoyment of life and your sense of peace. That's all there is to it. Everything else is fun and games. If an activity is not grounded in "to love" or "to learn" it does not have value.

Sadness, it was such an arresting emotion. You could almost convince yourself of the rhyme and reason of heartbreak.

Resignation requires will, and will requires decision, and decision requires belief, and belief requires that there is something to believe in!

Without memory there can be no insight. Without love, there can be no appreciation.

The world of atheism was cracking apart for me, just as once the world of Catholic faith had cracked apart. I was losing my faith in the nonexistence of God.

One tiny flame could make so many other flames; one tiny flame could set afire a whole world.