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.

I know a lot about writing, but I don't know much about how other industries work. I've tried to use my naivety to my advantage.

Work is most fulfilling when you're at the comfortable, exciting edge of not quite knowing what you are doing.

We are sensitized by the books we read. And the more books we read, and the deeper their lessons sink into us, the more pairs of glasses we have. And those glasses enable us to see things we would have otherwise missed.

Feeling lost, crazy and desperate belongs to a good life as much as optimism, certainty and reason.

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

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