“Why, the club was just the quietest place in the world, a place where a woman could run in to brush her hair and wash her hands, and change her library book, and have a cup of tea.”

“To be an American is to move on, as if we could outrun change. To attach oneself to place is to surrender to it, and suffer with it.”

“Just the knowledge that a good book is awaiting one at the end of a long day makes that day happier. ”

“When you come to a place where you have to left or right,' says Sister Ruth, 'go straight ahead.”

“Only Christ could have brought us all together, in this place, doing such absurd but necessary things.”

“If grace is so wonderful, why do we have such difficulty recognizing and accepting it? Maybe it's because grace is not gentle or made-to-order. It often comes disguised as loss, or failure, or unwelcome change.”

“It's all so beautiful . . . the spring . . . and books and music and fires. . . . Why aren't they enough?”