“A stationary sense . . . as, I suppose,I shall have, till my single body grows        Inaccurate, tired;Then I shall start to feel the backward pullTake over, sickening and masterful —         Some say, desired.And this must be the prime of life . . . I blink,As if at pain; for it is pain, to think        This pantomimeOf compensating act and counter-act,Defeat and counterfeit, makes up, in fact,        My ablest time.- Maturity”

“How shall I sum up my life? I think I've been particularly lucky. Does that have something to do with faith also? I know my mother always used to say, 'Good things aren't supposed to just fall in your lap. God is very generous, but he expects you to do your part first.' So you have to make that effort. But at the end of a bad time or a huge effort, I've always had - how shall I say it? - the prize at the end. My whole life shows that.”

“It's my side. I have found the pain. It is in my side, and I isolate it and define it, and arrange the other pains around it. I tell myself that pain is information, that I am learning to map the spaces of my own body. Then my body's feelings cascade toward my side, and pain pours over its outlines and erases them. ("Marriage")”

“I understand you, and I shall not attempt to make you change your mind. I am too old to want to improve the world. I have told you what I think, and that is all. I shall remain your friend even if you act contrary to my convictions, and I shall help you even if I disagree with you.”

“XXIXYou have set me among those who are defeated.I know it is not for me to win, nor to leave the game.I shall plunge into the pool although but to sink to the bottom.I shall play the game of my undoing.I shall stake all I have and when I lose my last penny I shall stake myself, and then I think I shall have won through my utter defeat.”

“Defeat I shall not know. It shall not touch me. I will meet it with true thinking. Resisting it will be my strengthening. But if, perchance, the day shall give to me the bitter cup, it shall sweeten in the drinking.”