Distress at losing an object can be as much a frustration at the intellectual mystery of the disappearance as about the loss itself.

Politics is so difficult, it's generally only people who aren't quite up to the task who feel convinced they are.

If one felt successful, there'd be so little incentive to be successful.

Intimacy is the capacity to be rather weird with someone - and finding that that's ok with them.

When I see someone like Richard Dawkins, I see my father. I grew up with that. I'm basically the child of Richard Dawkins.

Despite the best efforts of critics and the hopes of authors, our tastes in books are probably as inherent & unbudgeable as those in food.

One's doing well if age improves even slightly one's capacity to hold on to that vital truism: "This too shall pass.