Gift from the Sea: 70th Anniversary Edition

by Anne Morrow Lindbergh

But I want first of all—in fact, as an end to these other desires—to be at peace with myself. I want a singleness of eye, a purity of intention, a central core to my life that will enable me to carry out these obligations and activities as well as I can. I want, in fact—to borrow from the language of the saints—to live “in grace” as much of the time as possible. I am not using this term in a strictly theological sense. By grace I mean an inner harmony, essentially spiritual, which can be translated into outward harmony.

How wonderful are islands!

Solitude, says the moon shell. Every person, especially every woman, should be alone sometime during the year, some part of each week, and each day.

When you love someone you do not love them all the time, in exactly the same way, from moment to moment.

Because we cannot deal with the complexity of the present, we often over-ride it and live in a simplified dream of the future.