“The true disciple should aim to live for the gospel, rather than to die for it.”

Every person thinks his own intellect perfect, and his own child handsome.

A dog will never forget the crumb thou gavest him, though thou mayst afterwards throw a hundred stones at his head.

Keep belly lightly loaded, if mind would wisdom see; For bodies crammed to bursting, make empty souls to be.

A handsome woman is a jewel; a good woman is a treasure.

Every leaf of the tree becomes a page of the book, once the heart is opened and it has learnt to read.

Use a sweet tongue, courtesy, and gentleness, and thou mayest manage to guide an elephant by a hair.

Be not so severe as to cause shyness, nor so clement as to encourage boldness.

To tell a falsehood is like the cut of a saber: for though the wound may heal, the scar of it will remain.

Have patience. All things are difficult before they become easy.

Be not in the desire of thine own ease.

The stranger has no friend, unless it be a stranger.

Expose not the secret failings of mankind, otherwise you must verily bring scandal upon them and distrust upon yourself.

A tree, freshly rooted, may be pulled up by one man on his own. Give it time, and it will not be moved, even with a crane.

He who lives upon the fruit of his own labor, escapes the contempt of haughty benefactors.

People are crying up the rich and variegated plumage of the peacock, and he is himself blushing at the sight of his ugly feet.

Whatever makes an impression on the heart seems lovely in the eye.

My notebook couldn’t carry the burden of all those words which my heart once felt.

I’m in the middle of my sixth book, which is about animals at the Los Angeles Zoo.

Books of apostates, heretics, schismatics, and all other writers defending heresy or schism or in any attacking the foundations of religion, are altogether prohibited.

The lively and mercurial are as open books, with the leaves turned down at the notable passages. Their souls sit at the windows of their eyes, seeing and to be seen.

Doing it your own way, not having to go exactly by the book to be successful.

I feel like I got a whole lot of living to do before I think about summing it up in a book.

I found my old diary tonight. A brokenness I had forgotten pen pressured so deep it punctured page. I ran my fingers over my words and there inside ridges black I found a little girl desperate for someone to save her, desperate for the very woman I have become.

My favourite authors are Milan Kundera and Jeanette Winterson.