“The rose has toldIn one simplicityThat never lifeRelinquishes a bloomBut to bestowAn ancient confidence.”

“You cannot choose your battlefield,God does that for you;But you can plant a standardWhere a standard never flew.(From The Colors)”

“For one thing, she hadn't exactly chosen a field; although she has since childhood imagined picking up her Oscar, the category has never been determined. There was some thought that by the time she grew up they would give out Oscars for Best Novel (and that by then she would have written one), or that maybe she would just get some kind of honorary Oscar for her distinctive life observations made in everyday conversations, or the occasional letter. ”

“It perhaps might be said--if any one dared--that the most worthless literature of the world has been that which has been written by the men of one nation concerning the men of another.”

“you can have one of mine," he says. "i'll yank one out right now." no, that won't count. It has to be the lash that naturally falls out. "He gets on his knees and starts looking for my lash.”

“I simply never found a specific club that I could bring myself to be passionate about. I was having enough trouble finding one person to be passionate about, let alone a whole club!”

“ One of the most extraordinary things about about dogs is their total lack of self-consciousness. A dog never questions its own beauty, its own worth. A dog just accepts itself and lives for the moment.”