Choice of attention – to pay attention to this and ignore that – is to the inner life what choice of action is to the outer. In both cases, a man is responsible for his choice and must accept the consequences, whatever they may be. – W. H. Auden

I have come one step away from everything. And here I stay, far from everything, one step away. – Antonio Porchia, Voces, 1943, translated from Spanish by W.S. Merwin

The true harvest of my daily life is somewhat as intangible and indescribable as the tints of morning or evening. It is a little star dust caught, a segment of the rainbow which I have clutched. – Henry David Thoreau, Walden