The value of solitude -- one of it's values -- is, of course, that there is nothing to cushion against attacks from within.

MAY SARTON, Journal of a Solitude

Does anything in nature despair except man? An animal with a foot caught in a trap does not seem to despair. It is too busy trying to survive. It is all closed in, to a kind of still, intense waiting. Is this a key? Keep busy with survival. Imitate the trees. Learn to lose in order to recover, and remember that nothing stays the same for long, not even pain, psychic pain. Sit it out. Let it all pass. Let it go.

MAY SARTON, Journal of a Solitude

Everything that slows us down and forces patience, everything that sets us back into the slow cycles of nature, is a help. Gardening is an instrument of grace.

MAY SARTON, Journal of a Solitude