“I was the only person in the world who thought it was a military duty to appear to be in a good mood.”

“The only way I could endure being a coward was if I was the only one who knew it.”

“I prayed hard and only gradually became aware that this fierce praying was a way of finding prologue and entrance into my own writing. This came as both astonishment and relief. When I thought God had abandoned me, I discovered that He had simply given me a different voice to praise the inexhaustible beauty of the made world.”

“The only word for goodness is goodness, and it is not enough.”

“Know this. I think you could be special if you only thought there was anything special about yourself.”

“I do not have any other way of saying it. I think it happens but once and only to the very young when it feels like your skin could ignite at the mere touch of another person. You get to love like that but once.”

“Before I met the Jesuits, I’d never encountered another group who thought that intellect and arrogance were treasures beyond price and necessities in waging wars against blasphemers, heretics.”