Writing a book has about it some of the anxiety of telling a joke and having to wait several years to know whether or not it was funny.

The degree of sympathy we feel regarding another's fiasco is directly proportional to how easy or difficult it is for us to imagine ourselves, under like circumstances, making a similar mistake.

The pleasure we derive from journeys is perhaps dependent more on the mindset with which we travel than on the destination we travel to.

Never too late to learn some embarrassingly basic, stupidly obvious things about oneself.

A good half of the art of living is resilience.

We are sad at home and blame the weather and the ugliness of the buildings, but on the tropical island we learn that the state of the skies and the appearance of our dwellings can never on their own underwrite our joy nor condemn us to misery.

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