One of the best protections against disappointment is to have a lot going on.

The universe is large and we are tiny, without the need for further religious superstructure. One can have so-called spiritual moments without belief in the spirit.

Status Anxiety: A worry, so pernicious as to be capable of ruining extended stretches of our lives, that we are in danger of failing to conform to the ideals of success laid down by our society and that we may as a result be stripped of dignity and respect; a worry that we are currently occupying too modest a rung or are about to fall to a lower one.

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.

Reputation matters so much only because people so seldom think for themselves.

We wanted to test each other's capacity for survival: only if we had tried in vain to destroy one another would we know we were safe.

Good books put a finger on emotions that are deeply our own - but that we could never have described on our own.