The desire for high status is never stronger than in situations where "ordinary" life fails to answer a median need for dignity and comfort.

Booksellers are the most valuable destination for the lonely, given the numbers of books that were written because authors couldn't find anyone to talk to.

There's a whole category of people who miss out by not allowing themselves to be weird enough.

The secular world is full of holes. We have secularized badly.

According to one influential wing of modern secular society there are few more disreputable fates than to end up being 'like everyone else' for 'everyone else' is a category that comprises the mediocre and the conformist, the boring and the suburban. The goal of all right-thinking people should be to mark themselves off from the crowd and 'stand out' in whatever way their talents allow.

We are certainly influenced by role models, and if we are surrounded by images of beautiful rich people, we will start to think that to be beautiful and rich is very important - just as in the Middle Ages, people were surrounded by images of religious piety.

One kind of good book should leave you asking: how did the author know that about me?