I me memorize a lot of poetry, too, so I’l have something to be saying to myself on long walks. A poem to repeat, either aloud or silently, will help you over a hill or on a long mile as surely as a neighbour who stops his team and gives you a lift.

Christmas in the woods is so much better than Christmas on the Outside. We do exactly what we want to do about it, not what we have to do because the neighbors will think it’s funny if we don’t; or because of the kids, who will judge our efforts not by their own standards but by the standards set up by the parents of other kids.

I don’t have to point out, I’m sure, that letters received should be answered within a reasonable time- say a month; but there is such a thing as answering too promptly and writing too long a letter. It makes answering a burden to your correspondent, who will feel obligated to do at least as well as you have done, and will soon be heartily sick of the whole thing.

It’s fun to take a pile of raw materials and make something out of them. The more demanding the work, the greater the satisfaction.

The only way to know how much you love a thing is to see it in peril of being lost.

I’m a good knitter, and I’m proud of it. I see no point in being modest about things you know you do well. It doesn’t indicate humility so much as hypocrisy or lack of perception.

I think the difficulty with people who can’t follow printed directions for knitting or anything else is that they try to understand them. They read the whole thing through and it doesn’t make sense to them, so they start with a defeatist attitude.

We’ve managed to make a good marriage. This I say with all humility. It’s a marriage in which there is nothing that can be hurt by the roughest usage. It’s a marriage that you can let yourself go in, a marriage in which you can put your feet up and relax.

Here the people seem to possess the secret of tranquility and to live lives of more than surface contentment.

There are other things that contribute to health besides a balanced diet. There are fresh air and sunlight and lack of nervous tension.