Quotes from Anne Morrow Lindbergh

it takes as much courage to have tried and failed as it does to have tried and succeded.

Can you write a book and have children at the same time? Yes, if you're content to do it very very slowly.

Only love can be divided endlessly and still not diminish.

...the only continuity possible in life, as in love, is in growth, in fluidity - in freedom. The only real security is... living in the present and accepting it as it is now.

How one hates to think of oneself as alone. How one avoids it. It seems to imply rejection or unpopularity.

The only real security is not in owning or possessing, not in demanding or expecting, not in hoping, even. Security in a relationship lies neither in looking back to what it was, nor forward to what it might be, but living in the present and accepting it as it is now.

There is no harvest for the heart alone. The seed of love must be eternally re-sown.

People talk about love as if it were something you could give, like an armful of flowers.

When the heart is flooded with love there is no room in it for fear, for doubt, for hesitation.

So many things we love are you!

I do not believe that sheer suffering teaches. If suffering alone taught, all the world would be wise, since everyone suffers. To suffering must be added mourning, understanding, patience, love, openness and the willingness to remain vulnerable.

Arranging a bowl of flowers in the morning can give a sense of quiet in a crowded day - like writing a poem or saying a prayer.

Travel Far, Pay No Fare... a book can take you anywhere.

Only when a tree has fallen can you take the measure of it. It is the same with a man.

Life is a gift, given in trust - like a child.

Love is a force.... It is not a result; it is a cause. It is not a product; it produces.

Ideally, both members of a couple in love free each other to new and different worlds.

To be deeply in love is, of course, a great liberating force.

The nicest gifts are those left, nameless and quiet, unburdened with love, or vanity, or the desire for attention.

God may want you to be the answer to your own prayer.

It isn't for the moment you are stuck that you need courage, but for the long uphill climb back to sanity and faith and security.

People "died" all the time. ... Parts of them died when they made the wrong kinds of decisions-decisions against life. Sometimes they died bit by bit until finally they were just living corpses walking around. If you were perceptive you could see it in their eyes; the fire had gone out ... you always knew when you made a decision against life. ... The door clicked and you were safe inside- safe and dead.

One cannot collect all the beautiful shells on the beach.

The loneliness you get by the sea is personal and alive. It doesn't subdue you and make you feel abject. It's stimulating loneliness.