“I would, quite often, like to be grownup, wise, and sophisticated. But these gifts are not mine.”

“In honesty you have to admit to a wise man that prayer is not for the wise, not for the prudent, not for the sophisticated. Instead it is for those who recognize that in face of their deepest needs, all their wisdom is quite helpless. It is for those who are willing to persist in doing something that is both childish and crucial.”

“I sometimes longed for someone who, like me, had not adjusted perfectly with his age, and such a person was hard to find; but I soon discovered cats, in which I could imagine a condition like mine, and books, where I found it quite often.”

“I believe in you, and your choices, and that most often and like mine, they will be wrong.”

“Aren't you frightened?" Somehow I expected her to say no, to say something wise like a grownup would, or to explain that we can't presume to understand the Lord's plan. She looked away. "Yes," she finally said, "I'm frightened all the time." "Then why don't you act like it?""I do. I just do it in private.""Because you don't trust me?""No," she said, "because I know you're frightened, too.”

“You may need to quit doing complicated things and do things with touch of sophistication.”