There are those who say that temptation can be barricaded beyond the door. The ones who think that stray desires can be driven out of the heart like … - Jeanette Winterson

Bask in it. In spite of what the monks say, you can meet God without getting up early. You can meet God lounging in the pew. The hardship is a man-made device because man cannot exist without passion.

When was the last time you looked at anything, solely, and concentratedly, and for its own sake? Ordinary life passes in a near blur. If we go to the theatre or the cinema, the images before us change constantly, and there is the distraction of language. Our loved ones are so well known to us that there is no need to look at them, and one of the gentle jokes of married life is that we do not.

"Why be happy when you could be normal?" Constance Winterson, adoptive mother of Jeanette Winterson.