Most of our childhood is stored not in photos, but in certain biscuits, lights of day, smells, textures of carpet.

The best cure for one's bad tendencies is to see them in action in another person.

Because the rhythm of conversation makes no allowance for dead periods, because the presence of others calls for continuous responses, we are left to regret the inanity of what we say, and the missed opportunity of what we do not.

The moment we cry in a film is not when things are sad but when they turn out to be more beautiful than we expected them to be.

You have to be quite heavily invested in someone to do them the honour of telling them you're annoyed with them.

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

Status Anxiety: A worry, so pernicious as to be capable of ruining extended stretches of our lives, that we are in danger of failing to conform to the ideals of success laid down by our society and that we may as a result be stripped of dignity and respect; a worry that we are currently occupying too modest a rung or are about to fall to a lower one.