Sit still with me in the shade of these green trees, which have no weightier thought than the withering of their leaves when autumn arrives, or the stretching of their many stiff fingers into the cold sky of the passing winter. Sit still with me and meditate on how useless effort is, how alien the will, and on how our very meditation is no more useful than effort, and no more our own than the will. Meditate too on how a life that wants nothing can have no weight in the flux of things, but a life the wants everything can likewise have no weight in the flux of things, since it cannot obtain everything, and to obtain less than everything is not worthy of souls that seek the truth.

Who is to decide which is the grimmer sight: withered hearts, or empty skulls?

"He'd only been gone two seconds, but the room got brighter when they were together, as if they were two elements that became brilliant in proximity. At Sam's clumsy efforts to carry the vacuum, Grace smiled a new smile that I thought only he ever got, and he shot her a withering look full of the sort of subtext you could only get from a lot of conversations whispered after dark.

Love never dies a natural death. It dies because we don't know how to replenish its source. It dies of blindness and errors and betrayals. It dies of illness and wounds; it dies of weariness, of witherings, of tarnishings.

Here's my rule: You always want to pay cash for your own books because if they look at the name on the credit card and then they look at the name on the book jacket then there's this look of such profound sympathy for you that you had to resort to this. It really is withering.

I feel like a hostage to fortune. Not that I am complaining. I wanted to play the role. But in truth I didn't think the show would be such a success. OK I thought it would fail. Not because it was bad. I was confident it was good but plenty of good things just sort of wither on the vine.

Even actresses that you really admire like Reese Witherspoon you think 'Another romantic comedy?' You see her in something like 'Walk the Line' and think 'God you're so great!' And then you think 'Why is she doing these stupid romantic comedies?' But of course it's for money and status.

I want to do the romantic comedies. You know the stuff that Meg Ryan and Julia Roberts or Reese Witherspoon would choose of course.

Intelligence flourishes only in the ages when belief withers.

It is better wither to be silent or to say things of more value than silence. Sooner throw a pearl at hazard than an idle or useless word and do not say a little in many words but a great deal in a few.

Conjugal love or the friendship of spouses can persist even after sexual desires have weakened withered and disappeared.

If our freedom is taken the American dream will wither and die.

As a single withered tree if set aflame causes a whole forest to burn so does a rascal son destroy a whole family.

Question: Why are we Masters of our Fate the captains of our souls? Because we have the power to control our thoughts our attitudes. That is why many people live in the withering negative world. That is why many people live in the Positive Faith world.

Love never dies a natural death. It dies because we don't know how to replenish it's source. It dies of blindness and errors and betrayals. It dies of illness and wounds it dies of weariness of witherings of tarnishings.

A good character is the best tombstone. Those who loved you and were helped by you will remember you when forget-me-nots have withered. Carve your name on hearts not on marble.

Reese Witherspoon is my everywoman. She's managed to have a family and this amazing career. That's the goal.

The person who tries to live alone will not succeed as a human being. His heart withers if it does not answer another heart. His mind shrinks away if he hears only the echoes of his own thoughts and finds no other inspiration.