Bitterness: anger that forgot where it came from.

We should keep a careful diary of our moments of envy: they are our covert guides to what we should try to do next.

The study of maps and the perusal of travel books aroused in me a secret fascination that was at times almost irresistible.

There's a whole category of people who miss out by not allowing themselves to be weird enough.

Unrequited love may be painful, but it is safely painful, because it does not involve inflicting damage on anyone but oneself, a private pain that is as bittersweet as it is self-induced. But as soon as love is reciprocated, one must be prepared to give up the passivity of simply being hurt and take on the responsibility of perpetrating hurt oneself.

Being incomprehensible offers unparalleled protection against having nothing to say...but writing with simplicity requires courage, for there is a danger that one will be overlooked, dismissed as simpleminded by those with a tenacious belief that the impassable prose is a hallmark of intelligence.

Our sense of what is valuable will hence be radically distorted if we must perpetually condemn as tedious everything we lack, simply because we lack it.