And then he remembered Hawat's words: Parting with people is a sadness; a place is only a place.

A time of love and a time of grief.

Each day holds a surprise. But only if we expect it can we see, hear, or feel it when it comes to us. Let's not be afraid to receive each day's surprise, whether it comes to us as sorrow or as joy It will open a new place in our hearts, a place where we can welcome new friends and celebrate more fully our shared humanity.

Is solace anywhere more comforting than that in the arms of a sister.

If you're too happy about anything, fate usually gives you a good sock in the jaw and knocks you down.

You're going to get hurt yourself, and badly, if you take everything so hard.

An infinite question is often destroyed by finite answers...To define everything is to annihilate much that gives us laughter and joy...If I try self consciously to become a person, I will never be one. The most real people, those who are able to forget their selfish selves, who have true compassion, are usually the most distinct individuals

We cannot always cry at the right time and who is to say which time is right?

Active happiness is not a common state. Active unhappiness is better than dull days. Katherine was seldom in an intermediate stage.

He said, "There's a sermon of John Donne's I have often had cause to remember during my lifetime. He says, Other men's crosses are not my crosses. We all have our own cross to carry, and one is all most of us are able to bear. How much do you owe him, Vicky?

Detachment and involvement: the artist must have both. The link between them is compassion.

Compassion means to suffer with, but it doesn't mean to get lost in the suffering, so that it becomes exclusively one's own. I tend to do this, to replace the person for whom I am feeling compassion with myself.