“I used to imagine adventures for myself, I invented a life, so that I could at least exist somehow.”

“I invented adventures for myself and made up a life, so as at least to live in some way.”

“I realized now that I would never be truly done with adventuring. The path of life takes twists and turns one could never even imagine or hope for. It was the greatest adventure and I had so much more to experience. Where, I wonder, would life lead me next?”

“Some part of me knew that I could play this part well, or better than well. But I was almost afraid to play it. The line between stage and life was so fragile here that I felt a risk of losing myself somehow.”

“To save myself, I would try to summon up a vision of Mattie, but I could not see her. I could not imagine her. Some nights in the midst of this loneliness I swung among the scattered stars at the end of the thin thread of faith alone. And then I would wake up and be in awe to see the daylight coming and my old familiar workaday life taking shape again in the dear world. Coherence and clarity returned. I could imagine myself again. I could imagine Mattie Chatham. I could imagine Port William.”

“Imagination could never invent the number of different contradictions that exist innately in each person's heart.”