I am impressed anew by… how much the harshness that challenges life is what causes the beauty. Birds fly because they must escape predators and search for food. Trees grow skyward because they compete fiercely...

If by years of patient suffering, God can manage to take the harshness out of my voice, then the time has been well-spent.

the bleakest situations bring out the hospitality in all of us, but it’s during the harshest we find out how strong we really are.

I wish I could tell you how lonely I am. How cold and harsh it is here. Everywhere there is conflict and unkindness. I think God has forsaken this place. I believe I have seen...

How many women are there … who because of their husbands’ harshness spend their weary lives in the bond of marriage in greater suffering than if they were slaves among the Saracens?

We don’t need to take off our pants and stand naked in the snow to experience the harshness of life; a clever person even can feel it with a bottle of wine.

…when you’re hard and unyielding your words score me with lines – I hate lines – I want curves – curves are happy like a snowman …