Let me know that into the knot of self comes the thread called time, and that what I am, disgraced or blessed, came from what I was, goes to what I yet may be.

She sat still, I thought, and yet she traveled. And when one stitches, the mind travels, not the way men do, with ax and oxen through the wilderness, but surely our traveling counted too, as motion....

there is a great debate in Kentucky, south of us, near Tennessee, between those who believe in free will and those who hold with predestination. I have always believed I was free.

I opened my letter to Margaret by describing the scene-I always enjoy receiving a letter when the writer locates himself or herself in a definite place, and I like to know if there is a cup of tea at...

And every morning my heart will rise to meet the sea, which is what we know here on earth of infinity and change.

Do you know why sailors wear gold in their ears?" Uncle asked me. "It was the law, long ago, that a sailor had to have on his person enough gold to bury him should he wash ashore. So the seaside folk...

What do you think of God, I asked, for testing the loyalty of Job? I think it is wrong for the strong to test the weak, though it is natural for the weak to test the strong.

Perhaps Vulnerability was a land that, for some people, could never be entirely traversed.

Beware the treachery of words, Mrs Sparrow. They mean one thing to one person and the opposite to another.

I rather regretted that I did not myself have a sister who was a friend and with whom I could compare myself, the better to understand both my singularity and our commonality.

Beware the treachery of words... Words seem to be well-woven baskets ready to hold your meaning, but they betray you with rotted corners and splintered stays.

It was in her nature to love and to nurture; she would not leave those feelings within herself to fester and sour, but instead she chose someone who would receive her gifts gladly. She did not hold...

He prayeth best who loveth best all things both great and small.

I spiraled slowly down the steps, the soft way a milkweed seed sometimes twirls to earth. I wanted time for any vague thought to come to mind that mind should want. No new ones came, but the pace...

Honesty, like any inclination, can become a ruling passion, a monomania almost.

S IS THE SOUND of the sea. Her surge and suck, her spray and surf. Sometimes she seethes. She knows the sound of smooth. With her s, the sea marries the shore, and then there is scamper and slush in...

Is beauty enhanced or adulterated by utility?

Do you think yourself a string too short to save? Do you think that you are lank and straight, a linear bit with no connection fore or aft? Fear not your insignificance. Nature has a drawer for you....

Ahab was neither my first husband nor my last

Of our pasts we seemed to know all we needed to know. Nothing was concealed, and though nothing was overtly revealed, all was known. In guilt and in forgiveness we counted ourselves equals, and always...

Her eyes were as green as the sea, and forever I forgave the sea for not appearing blue.

That night, though I was weary with the day, I took to the roof again.... My fingertips rested lightly on the wooden rail. I could not know if stars were equal to each other, but if they were, then...

I turned from my window. Suddenly it seemed odd for my neighbors on both sides to have visitors while I had none. For the first time, I felt lonely at 'Sconset.Let's cook, Frannie said energetically....

Pardon me, dear human self, capable of the most heinous degradation, capable of soaring.

Is it not the case that many a life journey starts out in the opposite direction to its destiny?

Where we choose to be, where we choose to be--we have the power to determine that in our lives. We cannot reel time backward or forward, but we can take ourselves to the place that defines our being.

Great minds may have cold hearts. Form but no color. It is an incompleteness. And so they are afraid of any woman who both thinks and feels deeply.

If you meet a woman of whatever complexion who sails her life with strength and grace and assurance, talk to her! And what you will find is that there has been a suffering, that at some time she has...