“On a certain afternoon of July, at the tawniest hour, on Galvez Island, the earth -- the tilting spinning earth -- was unearthly. There is no accounting for this adequacy, this splendor that overtakes you. You lack neither flour nor oil while the famine lasts. On a certain afternoon, at a certain hour, the earth is earth no longer, but a fragment of eternity. And you, greenhorn jest of time, are a fragment of eternity too.”

“I think we are all here on this earth to do certain things, fulfill certain missions in this life. We are each unique and have an important role. Some of us are here for a short while because what we need to accomplish doesn’t involve much time, while others of us have a purpose that requires us to remain on earth longer.”

“Under certain circumstances there are few hours more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea.”

“Perhaps life is like an hour glass, with dear ones the sand that slips from the upper glass--the earth--into the second--eternity.”

“Measured against eternity, our time on earth is just a blink of an eye, but the consequences of it will last forever.”

“You weren't put on earth to be remembered. You were put here to prepare for eternity.”