“Good God, I have taken leave of my senses. I never thank Delalieu. I've likely given the poor man a heart attack.”

“I know there is poor and hideous suffering, and I've seen the hungry and the guns that go to war. I have lived pain, and my life can tell: I only deepen the wound of the world when I neglect to give thanks for early light dappled through leaves and the heavy perfume of wild roses in early July and the song of crickets on humid nights and the rivers that run and the stars that rise and the rain that falls and all the good things that a good God gives.”

“Do you think that I am a machine? That I can bear it?Do you think because I'm poor, plain, obsure, and littlethat I have no heart? That I'm without soul?I have as much heart as you and as much soul.And if God had given me as much beauty and wealth,I would make it as hard for you to leave me as it is now for me to leave you.”

“Those I leave behind, I love. I hope I will remain in their hearts as they will in mine...Thank you for taking such good care of me...And all of you who have been my friends, thank you for teaching me about love.”

“What can I say at seventy-five? "Thank God for my good life,and for all the love that has been given to me.”

“Never say that I have taken it, only that I have given it back.”