Ursula Hegi quotes:

That's the nature of being a parent, Sabine has discovered. You'll love your children far more than you ever loved your parents, and -- in the recognition that your own children cannot fathom the depth of your love -- you come to understand the tragic, unrequited love of your own parents.

A perfectly happy marriage? There is no such thing. There are strong marriages that can survive problems, but happiness is such a brief condition, interrupted by difficulties and plain, boring routine.

What the river was showing her now was that she could flow beyond the brokenness, redeem herself, and fuse once more.

Given a choice, she would rather be the one who was persecuted than the one doing the persecuting-- both had a terrible price to pay, but she would rather endure humiliation and fear than grow numb to what it was to be human.

Marrying a woman who was reckless must have been the ultimate reckless act, requiring a lifetime of balancing to keep both of them safe

I don't write for an audience. I write for myself. And if I imagine an audience at all, it's the characters, but I know that I would keep writing even if no one ever published me again, even if no one ever read me again.

In language that's lyrical and haunting, Cheryl Strayed writes about bliss and loss, about the kind of grace that startles and transforms us in ordinary moments.

I think you should have children, John. At least he's no longer talking about bugs.I'm too young, Dad.It's the most important thing I've done in my life.

Some acts of faith, I believe, have the power to grant us something infinitely wiser than we imagine

About endings....unless we do them well, we have to keep repeating them.

About the different levels of skill involved. You have to practice before you become a great masturbator.

I like to keep myself wrapped in layers of sleep and wait for the geraniums.

The absence of doubt will turn humans into beasts.