A world where a majority had imbibed the lessons implicit within tragic art would be one in which the consequences of our failures would necessarily cease to weigh upon us so heavily.

Gaffe-focused journalism: revenge of intelligent people who know true evils are out there but lack the access/time to get to them.

There is real danger of a disconnect between what's on your business card and who you are deep inside, and it's not a disconnect that the world is ready to be patient with.

Rather than saying 'I hate mess', it might draw more compassion to say, 'mess terrifies me as a harbinger of catastrophe'.

The desire for high status is never stronger than in situations where "ordinary" life fails to answer a median need for dignity and comfort.

The good parent: someone who doesn't mind, for a time, being hated by their children.

Out of the millions of people we live among, most of whom we habitually ignore and are ignored by in turn, there are always a few that hold hostage our capacity for happiness, whom we could recognize by their smell alone and whom we would rather die than be without.