I am a better person when I have less on my plate.

You were given life; it is your duty (and also your entitlement as a human being) to find something beautiful within life, no matter how slight.

Richard didn't even have time to ask if I thought I'd ever amount to anything in this life before I looked him eye to eye and said, 'I already have, mister.

During my first few weeks in Italy, all my Protestant synapses were zinging in distress, looking for a task. I wanted to take on pleasure like a homework assignment, or a giant science fair project.

True wisdom gives the only possible answer at any given moment, and that night, going back to bed was the only possible answer.

I asked, 'You mean, you might as well spend your life going upward, through the happy places, since heaven and hell - the destinations - are the same thing anyway?'Same - same,' he said. 'Same in end, so better to be happy on journey.'I said, 'So, if heaven is love, then hell is...'Love, too,' he said.