When Proust urges us to evaluate the world properly, he repeatedly reminds us of the value of modest scenes.

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

The greatest difficulty of Travel is that one is forced to take oneself along.

Maturity: knowing where you're crazy, trying to warn others of the fact and striving to keep yourself under control.

There is a longing for a return to a time without the need for choices, free of the regret at the inevitable loss that all choice (however wonderful) has entailed.

We should read other people's books in order to learn what we feel; it is our own thoughts we should be developing, even if it is another writer's thought that help us to do so.

Although I don't believe in God, Bach's music shows me what a love of God must feel like.