It is only when our fate hangs in the balance, when our very life depends on something, that we see whether or not we trust that the rope to which we are clinging will support...

Kindness is stronger than iron bars.

Mary watched the sunset from her carriage window, realizing that such beauty could never last. Life was a golden glory that faded in the wink of an eye. Life was a village fair that only...

The soft strings of the lute rippled with memories, and the maid’s lilting voice made Mary sigh as she closed her eyes. She fell asleep filled with sadness, but without regret.

But marrying within one’s own family can get monotonous. One has heard all the same family stories, knows all the jokes and all the same recipes. No novelty.

So I learned two things that night, and the next day, from him: the perfection of a moment, and the fleeting nature of it.

Boredom is that awful state of inaction when the very medicine ― that is, activity ― which could solve it, is seen as odious.Archery? It is too cold, and besides, the butts need re-covering; the...

Hope is a straw hat hanging beside a window covered with frost.

Perhaps life is like an hour glass, with dear ones the sand that slips from the upper glass–the earth–into the second–eternity.

The most wicked criminals have God on their lips at all times, for God is the only one who can stomach them.

The cure for a broken heart is simple, my lady. A hot bath and a good night’s sleep.

I did not worry about what a man or woman personally believed, but the nation’s official religion should be outwardly practiced by all its citizens. A religion was a political statement. Being a Calvinist, a...

Lying in bed, half-covered by the blankets, I would drowsily ask why he had come to my door that night long ago. It had become a ritual for us, as it does for all lovers:...

…Jesus saw the eternal in the everyday. Your last day on earth should be spent as you spent all your others– doing your daily tasks with love and honesty… An ordinary day is, perhaps, the...

Defeat I can endure with cheerfulness, my lady. But betrayal is like taking the wind from my sails, or the earth from beneath my feet. It chills my spirits like a rainy day, and all...

I had a desire to see something besides my own shores, if only to be content to return to them someday. If I wish to live in my native land and love her, it should...