“We are … the un-proud non-possessors of objects whose chief substance is that of the transient symbol. Our Puritan fear of the love of things turns out to have been groundless after all, for we do not love things or even possess them: they pass through our lives as barium passes through the digestive tract, unassimilated, their function merely to flash signals along the way.”

“Things pass us by. Nobody can catch them. That's the way we live our lives.”

“We make our way through Everything like thread passing through fabric, giving shape to images that we ourselves do not know.”

“Life is made of our attitudes. And there are certain things that the gods oblige us to live through. Their reason for this does not matter, and there is no action we can take to make them pass us by.”

“How we love to love things for other people; how we love to have other people love things through our eyes.”

“We are all deeply ashamed by choices we have made and things we have done. Many of these things are worthy of the raunchiest tabloid. These things bring pain and misery into our lives. But even with that, if we love and trust God and turn from those things to God, then He will still love us and be able to use us in powerful ways.”