Eudora Welty on language:

"In my sensory education, I include my physical awareness of a word. Of a
certain word, that is: the connection it has with what it stands for. At around
aged six, perhaps, I was standing by myself in our front yard waiting for supper, just at that hour in a late summer day when the sun is already below the horizon and the risen full moon in the visible sky stops being chalky and begins to
take on light. There comes a moment, and I saw it then, when the moon goes from flat to round. For the first time, it met my eyes as a globe. The word “moon” came into my mouth as though fed to me out of a silver spoon.”
 

Inspiring Things
The multitude of great thinkers I’ve met, through academia and business and life
Poets and authors too numerous to mention
Great songwriters
Music in general
My son’s love of wordplay
The generations of intelligent, articulate, creative women in my family
My dearest friends [you know who you are]
My yoga teacher, Julie Lawrence

Some Favorite Things
Conviction, dedication, courage, mercy, truth, love
Secret passageways
Echoes
Whispers
The names of winds
The idea of revolution
Phenomena
Flying
Words that sound like what they mean
Thunder and lightning
People who make it a mission to give back
old letters

And, of course, the pure wildness of
the oceans and everything they contain