We envy only those whom we feel ourselves to be like; we envy only members of our reference group. There are few successes more unendurable than those of our close friends.

As victims of hurt, we frequently don't bring up what ails us, because so many wounds look absurd in the light of day.

Art holds out the promise of inner wholeness.

A 'good job' can be both practically attractive while still not good enough to devote your entire life to.

Her lie was symptomatic of a certain pride she took in mocking the romantic, in being unsentimental, matter-of-fact, stoic; yet at heart she was the oppo site: idealistic, dreamy, giving, and deeply attached to everything she liked verbally to dismiss as "mushy.

We are all more intelligent than we are capable, and awareness of the insanity of love has never saved anyone from the disease.

Differ though we might with Christianity's view of what precisely our souls need, it is hard to discredit the provocative underlying thesis, which seems no less relevant in the secular realm than in the religious one-that we have within us a precious, childlike, vulnerable core which we should nourish and nurture on its turbulent journey through life.