We don't like to think of ourselves as subject to the forces of the world, we like to think of ourselves as exerting that force.

If you think about the contexts in which we talk about things being fun, often there's a certain kind of misery or effort that's involved with it. The difficulty of travel, getting all your bags packed and your work done and navigating the airports and all that. That sort of struggle.

I think a lot of the misery that people experience comes from that sensation of boundlessness, of infinite possibility.

Any phrase that suggests play is this domain that's the opposite of work, or the thing that you do when you're done working, should trouble us. Because it means that play is always relegated to the exhaust of life. It's the thing that you do after you do the important stuff, it's what you do on your own time.

There are also many things my wife can't stand about me, and there are certain capacities that she has that are different than mine. The trick is to find compatibilities.

This willingness to be frank and plain about the way that the world is, is a good first step. But that doesn't mean that you get what you want.

The actual effort that you can exert upon the universe is fairly limited.