The greatest gift a parent can leave a child is that parent's own independence..

Life is so extraordinary. Wonderful surprises are just around the most unexpected corners..

Grief is a funny thing because you don't have to carry it with you for the rest of your life. After a bit you set it down by the roadside and walk on….

They will come, not to paint the bay and the sea and the boots and the moors, but the warmth of the sun and the colour of the wind. A whole new conce….

I wasn't good enough. I had a little talent but not enough. There is nothing more discouraging than having just a little talent..

It was good, and nothing good is truly lost. It stays part of a person, becomes part of their character. So part of you goes everywhere with me. And ….

Beyond the pain, life continues to be sweet. The basics are still there. Beauty, food and friendship, reservoirs of love and understanding. Later, po….

Writing is work, but it's also a compulsion, and once you get your characters on paper, you can't abandon them. You have to respond to them..

She thought of the last couple of years: the boredom, the narrowness of existence, the dearth of anything to look forward to. Yet now, in a single in….

And the wicked thing is, that when we're really upset, we always take it out on the people who are closest and whom we love the most..

Happiness is making the most of what you have, and riches is making the most of what you've got..

I'm getting too elderly to travel the length of the country for a free hangover..

Grief was like a terrible burden, but at least you could lay it down by the side of the road and walk away from it. Antonia had come only a few paces….

She remembered him smiling, and realized that time, that great old healer, had finally accomplished its work, and now, across the years, the face of ….

She believed, of course ... because without something to believe in, life would be intolerable..

She put out her hand and touched his forearm, as she would have touched some piece of porcelain or sculpture, just for the sheer animal pleasure of f….

It was better not to get too close to another person. The closer you got, the more likely you were to get hurt..

Other people's houses were always fascinating. As soon as you went through the door for the first time, you got the feel of the atmosphere, and so di….

Things happen they way they're meant to. There's a pattern and a shape to everything...Nothing happens without a reason...Nothing is impossible...(Pa….

It is better to travel hopefully than to arrive. Arrival often brings nothing but a sense of desolation and disappointment..

There's a war on. We don't know how anything's going to end. We just have to grasp each fleeting moment of joy as it whizzes by..