We accept the need to train extensively to fly a plane; but think instinct should be enough for marrying and raising kids.

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

The happiness that may emerge from taking a second look is central to Proust's therapeutic conception. It reveals the extent to which our dissatisfactions may be the result of failing to look properly at our lives rather than the result of anything inherently deficient about them.

People who go on to be writers are those who can forgive themselves the horror of the first draft.

There is a devilishly direct relationship between the significance of an idea and how nervous we become at the prospect of having to think about it.

It seemed an advantage to be traveling alone. Our responses to the world are crucially moulded by the company we keep, for we temper our curiosity to fit in with the expectations of others...Being closely observed by a companion can also inhibit our observation of others; then, too, we may become caught up in adjusting ourselves to the companion's questions and remarks, or feel the need to make ourselves seem more normal than is good for our curiosity.

Those who divorce aren't necessarily the most unhappy, just those neatly able to believe their misery is caused by one other person.