It is perhaps when our lives are at their most problematic that we are likely to be most receptive to beautiful things.

What is fascinating about marriage is why anyone wants to get married.

Not being understood may be taken as a sign that there is much in one to understand.

In the works of Lucretius, we find two reasons why we shouldn't worry about death. If you have had a successful life, Lucretius tell us, there's no reason to mind its end. And, if you haven't had a good time, "Why do you seek to add more years, which would also pass but ill?"

Only by declaring a book completely finished can one start to see how much remains to be done on it.

We need a home in the psychological sense as much as we need one in the physical: to compensate for a vulnerability. We need a refuge to shore up our states of mind, because so much of the world is opposed to our allegiances. We need our rooms to align us to desirable versions of ourselves and to keep alive the important, evanescent sides of us.

The longing for destiny is nowhere stronger than in our romantic life.