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

What we seek, at the deepest level, is inwardly to resemble, rather than physically to possess, the objects and places that touch us through their beauty.

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

Rather than saying 'I hate mess', it might draw more compassion to say, 'mess terrifies me as a harbinger of catastrophe'.

Don't despair: despair suggests you are in total control and know what is coming. You don't - surrender to events with hope.

Envy: a confused, tangled guide to one's own ambitions.

If optimism is important, it's because many outcomes are determined by how much of it we bring to the task. It is an important ingredient of success. This flies in the face of the elite view that talent is the primary requirement of a good life, but in many cases the difference between success and failure is determined by nothing more than our sense of what is possible and the energy we can muster to convince others of our due. We might be doomed not by a lack of skill, but by an absence of hope!