The problem is if you really believe in a society where those who merit to get to the top, get to the top, you’ll also, by implication … believe in a society where those who deserve to get to the bottom also get to the bottom and stay there.

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

We study biology, physics, movements of glaciers... Where are the classes on envy, feeling wronged, despair, bitterness.

It is in books, poems, paintings which often give us the confidence to take seriously feelings in ourselves that we might otherwise never have thought to acknowledge.

It's clear to me that there is no good reason for many philosophy books to sound as complicated as they do.

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

It seemed an advantage to be traveling alone. Our responses to the world are crucially moulded by the company we keep, for we temper our curiosity to fit in with the expectations of others...Being closely observed by a companion can also inhibit our observation of others; then, too, we may become caught up in adjusting ourselves to the companion's questions and remarks, or feel the need to make ourselves seem more normal than is good for our curiosity.