If, every day, I dare to remember that I am here on loan, that this house, this hillside, these minutes are all leased to me, not given, I will never despair.

The words carry their own momentum. A confession in motion tends to stay in motion. Newton's first law of jealousy.

is there not an Arabick Proverb which goes, 'No one throws Stones at a Barren Tree'?

Language matters because whoever controls the words controls the conversation, because whoever controls the conversation controls its outcome, because whoever frames the debate has already won it, because telling the truth has become harder and harder to achieve in an America drowning in Orwellian Newspeak.

Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn't.

All my forebears worked for a living. My grandfather painted portraits. My mother too. My aunt painted seascapes.

Why do analysts always answer a question with a question?