“On the way home I thought: How strange. I didn't even mention my breakdown today. Perhaps the period of mourning is over. I can get back to my normal, lifelong problem: how to be a woman without hating yourself for being only a woman.”

“My grandfather used to say: Life is astoundingly short. To me, looking back over it, life seems so foreshortened that I scarcely understand, for instance, how a young man can decide to ride over to the next village without being afraid that -not to mention accidents- even the span of a normal happy life may fall far short of the time needed for such a journey.”

“Perhaps I am the turtle, able to live simply anywhere, even underwater for short periods, with my home on my back.”

“For a man, he has to learn how to get along without a woman for periods of time. For a woman, she has to learn how to get along without a man for periods of time. That’s how men and women learn to be able to get along with each other.”

“I can't get over my disappointment in not being a boy, and it's worse than ever now, for I'm dying to go and fight with Papa, and I can only stay home and knit like a poky old woman (Josephine)”

“I am strangely glad to get back again to you: and wherever you are is my home--my only home.”