"When I write, what I long for is not more realism or fiction but more courage. That's what I always find myself short on and what I have to struggle to achieve in order that the work might live."

“You need an entire life just to know about tomatoes.”

Source : "This column will change your life: mise en place" by Oliver Burkeman, www.theguardian.com. August 30, 2014.

“Perhaps the best conversationalist in the world is the man who helps others to talk.”

Source : John Steinbeck (2002). “East of Eden”, p.379, Penguin

“Oh, I offended you with my opinion? You should hear the the ones I keep to myself.”

“The early part of my career I really struggled, getting turned down again and again. I was in debt, and it was horrible. And then my family hit such highs in their careers, I asked myself what I was thinking going into the same profession.”

Source : "Biography/Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

“Walking on the land or digging in the fine soil I am intensely aware that time quivers slightly, changes occurring in imperceptible and minute ways, accumulating so subtly that they seem not to exist. Yet the tiny shifts in everything--cell replication, the rain of dust motes, lengthening hair, wind-pushed rocks--press inexorably on and on.”

Source : Annie Proulx (2011). “Bird Cloud: A Memoir of Place”, p.190, Simon and Schuster

“I've been fortunate, I've been blessed, and I attribute my success to all my fans. People want to do things with you when you have a big fan base, and I have a great fan base.”

“I should have considered it wrong to have finished the Frieze before the room for its accommodation and the funds for its completion were available.”

“To love is to make of one's heart a swinging door.”

Source : Howard Thurman (2014). “A Strange Freedom: The Best of Howard Thurman on Religious Experience and Public Life”, p.184, Beacon Press