Literature deeply stands opposed to the dominant value system-the one that rewards money and power. Writers are on the other side-they make us sympathetic to ideas and feelings that are of deep importance but can’t afford airtime in a commercialized, status-consciou s, and cynical world.

A dominant impulse on encountering beauty is to wish to hold on to it, to possess it and give it weight in one’s life. There is an urge to say, ‘I was here, I saw this and it mattered to me.

as the determinants of high status keep shifting, so, too, naturally, will the triggers of status anxiety be altered.

A good half of the art of living is resilience.

Anyone who isn't embarrassed of who they were last year probably isn't learning enough.

I learnt to stop fantasising about the perfect job or the perfect relationship because that can actually be an excuse for not living.

The difference between hope and despair is a different way of telling stories from the same facts.