Literature deserves its prestige for one reason above all others - because it's a tool to help us live and die with a little bit more wisdom, goodness, and sanity.

Cynics are - beneath it all - only idealists with awkwardly high standards.

The pleasure we derive from journeys is perhaps dependent more on the mindset with which we travel than on the destination we travel to.

Being funny should be an incidental byproduct of trying to get to something truthful, not a destination in itself.

That said, deciding to avoid other people does not necessarily equate with having no desire whatsoever for company; it may simply reflect a dissatisfaction with what—or who—is available. Cynics are, in the end, only idealists with awkwardly high standards. In Chamfort's words, 'It is sometimes said of a man who lives alone that he does not like society. This is like saying of a man that he does not like going for walks because he is not fond of walking at night in the forêt de Bondy.

Many moments in religion seem attractive to me even though I can't believe in any of it.

Work is most fulfilling when you're at the comfortable, exciting edge of not quite knowing what you are doing.