“She fell into the moody, miserable state of mind which often comes when strong wills have to yield to the inevitable.”

“Olivia was moody. Moody wasn't a word with which she was very familiar, but if it meant that her moods swung back and forth for no reason at all, and that she felt crabby and wanted to be alone more often than she felt content and friendly, and that she was often tempted to slam her bedroom door - preferably in someone's face - well, then, moody described perfectly the way she'd been feeling lately.”

“As those who have learned to rule their own mind will attest, misfortune is a state of mind long before it becomes a miserable circumstance. ”

“Water is fluid, soft & yielding but water will wear away rock, which is rigid and cannot yield ... what is soft is strong.”

“I studied her carefully. She was strong, this one. Strong willed. Strong minded. Still, she was not an indígena. I was not certain that she was yet strong enough to hear everything. I started slowly, as if probing a stream with a stick to see what lay beneath the surface of the water.”

“Happiness is a state of mind and not a state of possession. Be as you are and you will be happy, if you try to be someone else you will be miserable.”