Autonomy is impossible as long as one is driven by anything.

We may not be responsible for the world that created our minds, but we can take responsibility for the mind with which we create our world.

A long-term substance abuser, a few months before his death, penned this poem: Went downtown, Hastings and Main, looking for relief from the pain. All I did was find a ticket on a one-way train. ... Give me peace before I die. The track is laid out so well; we all live our private hell; just more tickets on the hell-bound train.

Not why the addiction, but why the pain.

The difference between passion and addiction is that between a divine spark and a flame that incinerates.

In the real world there is no nature vs. nurture argument, only an infinitely complex and moment-by-moment interaction between genetic and environmental effects

... While nervous tension may be a component of stress, one can be stressed without feeling tension.