Christ can speak to me through the white china Buddha who sits on my desk . . . and smiles at me tolerantly when I fly into a torrent of outrage or self-pity. That forbearing smile helps restore my sense of proportion, and rids me of that self-will which keeps me caught up in myself so that I am isolating myself from Christ.
— Madeleine L'Engle, Glimpses of Grace by Madeleine L'Engle, Carole F. Chase, editor