“...sifting through our thoughts like children going through colored stones -- optimistic, because although some were too dark and some were too sharp, many glittered like precious gems.”

“Trouble is a sieve through which we sift our acquaintances. Those too big to pass through are our friends.”

“I wonder what a soul…a person's soul…would look like,' said Priscilla dreamily.'Like that, I should think,' answered Anne, pointing to a radiance of sifted sunlight streaming through a birch tree. 'Only with shape and features of course. I like to fancy souls as being made of light. And some are all shot through with rosy stains and quivers…and some have a soft glitter like moonlight on the sea…and some are pale and transparent like mist at dawn.”

“Although when there were too many people around- which there certainly were today- it was hard even to remember to say thank you: all those people were like drowning.”

“Personally I thought you had to go into something like this with your eyes closed. If you thought about it too much you’d almost certainly not do it because there were just too many reasons not to. Rather the only thing to do was jump in and then take a peek at where you’d landed.”

“Some secrets are like fossils and the stone has become too heavy to turn over.”