Great Throughts Treasury

"People who like themselves and realize that they are God’s creation, are never really lonely. It is only when we lose track of our own value, and our personal connection with the divine, that we are desperate for others to distract us from our loss."

"As time went by, I realized that the particular place I'd chose was less important than the fact that I'd chosen a place and focused my life around it. Although the island has taken on great significance for me, it's no more inherently beautiful or meaningful than any other place on earth. What makes a place special is the way it buries itself inside the heart, not whether it's flat or rugged, rich or austere. wet or arid, gentle or harsh, warm or cold, wild or tame. Every place, like every person, is elevated by the love and respect shown toward it, and by the way in which its bounty is received."

"Or I would be the rain itself, wreathing over the island, mingling in the quiet of moist places, filling its pores with its saturated breaths. And I would be the wind, whispering through the tangled woods, running airy fingers over the island"

"There may be more to learn by climbing the same mountain a hundred times than by climbing a hundred different mountains."

"What obligation is more binding than to protect the cherished, to defend whoever or whatever cannot defend itself, and to nurture in turn that which has given nourishment? I"

"The mountain has left me feeling renewed, more content and positive than I"

"The natural and supernatural worlds are inseparable; each is intrinsically a part of the other... Explanations of the origin, design, and functioning of nature, and for proper human relationships to it, are to be found in the stories of the Distant Time."