Many divorces are not really the result of irreparable injury but involve, instead, a desire on the part of the man or woman to shatter the setup, start out from scratch alone, and make life work for them all over again. They want the risk of disaster, want to touch bottom, see where bottom is, and, coming up, to breathe the air with relief and relish again.

There often seems to be a playfulness to wise people, as if either their equanimity has as its source this playfulness or the playfulness flows from equanimity; and they can persuade other people who are in a state of agitation to calm down and smile.

It would be hard to define chaos better than as a world where children decide they don't want to live.

Men greet each other with a sock on the arm, women with a hug, and the hug wears better in the long run.

There is a time of life somewhere between the sullen fugues of adolescence and the retrenchments of middle age when human nature becomes so absolutely absorbing one wants to be in the city constantly, even at the height of summer.

Sophistication" is another word for that inventive mix of tolerance, resilience, and resourcefulness city people develop.

There are two kinds of writers: hustlers and sanctimonious hustlers.