An argument in a couple: 2 people attempting to introduce each other to important truths - by panicked shouting.

What kills us isn't one big thing, but thousands of tiny obligations we can't turn down for fear of disappointing others.

Life gives us no such handy markers - a storm comes, and far from this being a harbinger of death and collapse, during its course a person discovers love and truth, beauty and happiness, the rain lashing at the windows all the while.

There is always the option of being emotionally lazy, that is, of quoting.

The lesson? To respond to the unexpected and hurtful behavior of others with something more than a wipe of the glasses, to see it as a chance to expand our understanding.

Being funny should be an incidental byproduct of trying to get to something truthful, not a destination in itself.

Our capacity to draw happiness from aesthetic objects or material goods in fact seems critically dependent on our first satisfying a more important range of emotional or psychological needs, among them the need for understanding, for love, expression and respect.