... there is ... a big aspect of play in writing novels, and making the story more and more elaborate is just more and more fun.

It's a matter of whether you see the self as fundamentally in relationship to other selves or not - whether you see the boundary between self and the world as relatively permeable, which makes you "interdependent" (collectivist) in outlook, or relatively impermeable, which makes you "independent" (individualistic).

That there should be a purpose to suffering, that a person should be chosen for it, special - these are houses of the mind, in which whole peoples have found shelter.

I hate to generalize because there are always so many exceptions to any rule.

... there is ... a big aspect of play in writing novels, and making the story more and more elaborate is just more and more fun.

Chinese language tends to be quick, economical. To know what people are saying, you always need to know what the context is.

Many women tend toward the interdependent end of things, we tend to see ourselves in relationship to others to a far greater degree than men.