May Sarton

“Without darkness, nothing comes to birth, As without light, nothing flowers.”
-- May Sarton

“The minute one utters a certainty, the opposite comes to mind.”
-- May Sarton

“Everything that slows us down and forces patience, everything that sets us back into the slow circles of nature, is a help. Gardening is an instrument of grace.”
-- May Sarton

“I always forget how important the empty days are, how important it may be sometimes not to expect to produce anything, even a few lines in a journal. A day when one has not pushed oneself to the limit seems a damaged damaging day, a sinful day. Not so! The most valuable thing one can do for the psyche, occasionally, is to let it rest, wander, live in the changing light of a room.”
-- May Sarton

“We have to dare to be ourselves, however frightening or strange that self may prove to be.”
-- May Sarton

“If we are to understand the human condition, and if we are to accept ourselves in all the complexity, self-doubt, extravagance of feeling, guilt, joy, the slow freeing of the self to its full capacity for action and creation, both as human being and as artist, we have to know all we can about each other, and we have to be willing to go naked.”
-- May Sarton

“One does not "find oneself" by pursuing one's self, but on the contrary by pursuing something else and learning through discipline or routine. . . who one is and wants to be.”
-- May Sarton

“The most valuable thing we can do for the psyche, occasionally, is to let it rest, wander, live in the changing light of room, not try to be or do anything whatever.”
-- May Sarton

“Loneliness is the poverty of self; solitude is the richness of self.”
-- May Sarton