And human instinct is ancient and reliable, utterly mysterious and possibly capable of great genius. I believe that refined, fluent instincts are a person's most valuable asset. My own instincts have repeatedly guided me against the grain of logic and probability. When I have trusted and followed their direction, they have never been wrong. I don't know how or why. But I know that every significant experience-positive or negative-sharpens them and makes them more accurate.

I was struck with a bolt of distilled horror like I have never known before. Far worse than suddenly finding yourself walking through a prison cafeteria wearing Daisy Duke shorts and a Jane Fonda headband.

Just as I had long suspected, a person didn't really need math for anything anyway. Maybe some people did. Some limited people.

It terrified me to consider: What if, as a grown-up, I craved another body beside me as still as this one? What then?

I am prone to envy. It is one of my three default emotions, the others being greed and rage. I have also experienced compassion and generosity, but only fleetingly and usually while drunk, so I have little memory.

I suppose home is, for me, more of a state of mind. It's really more of about being where I want to be with people I care about.

Confidence is a reduction of your own interest in whether others are thinking about you and if so, what they're thinking.