Being incomprehensible offers unparalleled protection against having nothing to say...but writing with simplicity requires courage, for there is a danger that one will be overlooked, dismissed as simpleminded by those with a tenacious belief that the impassable prose is a hallmark of intelligence.

Mental health: having enough safe places in your mind for your thoughts to settle.

Choosing a spouse and a choosing career: the two great decisions for which society refuses to set up institutional guidance.

After 40 (old age for most of man's history), one should strive to be more or less packed and ready to go were the end call to come.

There is real danger of a disconnect between what's on your business card and who you are deep inside, and it's not a disconnect that the world is ready to be patient with.

It's as though either you accept [religious] doctrine and then you can have all the nice stuff, or you reject the doctrine and you're living in some kind of spiritual wasteland under the guidance of CNN and Walmart.

For paranoia about 'what other people think' : remember that only some hate, a very few love - and almost all just don't care.