It seemed an advantage to be traveling alone. Our responses to the world are crucially moulded by the company we keep, for we temper our curiosity to fit in with the expectations of others...Being closely observed by a companion can also inhibit our observation of others; then, too, we may become caught up in adjusting ourselves to the companion's questions and remarks, or feel the need to make ourselves seem more normal than is good for our curiosity.

Unrequited love may be painful, but it is safely painful, because it does not involve inflicting damage on anyone but oneself, a private pain that is as bittersweet as it is self-induced. But as soon as love is reciprocated, one must be prepared to give up the passivity of simply being hurt and take on the responsibility of perpetrating hurt oneself.

Getting to the top has an unfortunate tendency to persuade people that the system is OK after all.

It seems the only way to write a half decent book is to worry oneself sick on an hourly basis that one is producing a complete disaster.

You need a long hard day's work to reveal the logic of the craving for very bad tv and alcohol.

Dreams reveal we never quite get 'over' anything: it's all still in there somewhere.

The lesson? To respond to the unexpected and hurtful behavior of others with something more than a wipe of the glasses, to see it as a chance to expand our understanding.