“I am not fond of the idea of my shrubberies being always approachable.”

Catherine Earnshaw (Ch. IX).
Source: Wuthering Heights (1847)
Context: I can not express it; but surely you and everybody have a notion that there is, or should be an existence of yours beyond you. What were the use of creation if I were entirely contained here? My great miseries in this world have been Heathcliff's miseries, and I watched and felt each from the beginning; my great thought in living is himself. If all else perished, and he remained, I should still continue to be; and if all else remained, and he were annihilated, the universe would turn to a mighty stranger. I should not seem a part of it. My love for Linton is like the foliage in the woods: time will change it, I'm well aware, as winter changes the trees. My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath: a source of little visible delight, but necessary. Nelly, I am Heathcliff - he's always, always in my mind - not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself - but as my own being; so, don't talk of our separation again - it is impracticable.

True/Slant, "The Weekly Standard, Ethan Epstein, and Jesus" http://trueslant.com/barrettbrown/2010/07/18/the-weekly-standard-ethan-epstein-and-jesus/, 18 July 2010.

My Life Featuring Lil Wayne
LAX (2008)

Diary entry (April 1910).
The Diary and Letters of Käthe Kollwitz (1955)
Context: I am gradually approaching the period in my life when work comes first. When both the boys went away for Easter, I hardly did anything but work. Worked, slept, ate and went for short walks. But above all I worked. And yet I wonder whether the "blessing" is not missing from such work. No longer diverted by other emotions, I work the way a cow grazes.

[199709021744.KAA12428@wall.org, 1997]
Usenet postings, 1997

The Asian Journal of Thomas Merton (1975) Part One : Ceylon / November 29 - December 6.
Context: I am able to approach the Buddhas barefoot and undisturbed, my feet in wet grass, wet sand. Then the silence of the extraordinary faces. The great smiles. Huge and yet subtle. Filled with every possibility, questioning nothing, knowing everything, rejecting nothing, the peace not of emotional resignation but of Madhyamika, of sunyata, that has seen through every question without trying to discredit anyone or anything — without refutation — without establishing some other argument. For the doctrinaire, the mind that needs well-established positions, such peace, such silence, can be frightening.

In debate http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1952/nov/04/debate-on-the-address in the House of Commons, 4 Nov 1952
Post-war years (1945–1955)
Variant: Personally, I'm always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught.
Context: Personally, I am always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught, but I shall not attempt to foreshadow the proposals which will be brought before the House tomorrow. Today it will be sufficient and appropriate to deal with the obvious difficulties and confusion of the situation as we found it on taking office.