“When I go down by the sandy shoreI can think of nothing I want moreThan to live by the booming seaAs the seagulls flutter round about meI can run about--when the tide is outWith the wind and the sand and the sea all aboutAnd the seagulls are swirling and diving for fishOh-to live by the sea is my only wish.”

“When the seagulls follow the trawler, it is because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea. ”

“Greet the sky and live, blossom!... Yet even as the wind stirs your petals, flowers fall. My flowers are eternal, my songs live forever. I lift them in offering; I, a singer. I cast them to the wind, I spill them. The flowers become gold, they come to dwell inside the palace of eternity.”

“And when I can't speak it, I write it down. I wish I was different. Wish I was taller, smarter, could talk out loud the way I write things down. I wish I didn't always feel like I was on the outside, looking in like a Peeping Tom.”

“My mamma says I shouldn't go on the other side".... My mama says the same thing. But she never said nothing about sitting on it”

“As ever, his grief made my heart ache. "Ambition is a dangerous thing," I murmured. "One can harbor it unknowing, only to find it sparked into life when the opportunity presents itself.”

“They say a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. I took mine and fell flat on my face. As a young woman, I dreamed of changing the world. In my twenties, I went to africa to try and save the continent, only to learn that Africans neither wanted nor needed saving. Indeed, when I was there, I saw some of the worst that good intentions, traditional charity, and aid can produce...I concluded that if I could only nudge the world a little bit, maybe that would be enough.But nudging isn't enough.”