If the sun is shining, stand in it- yes, yes, yes. Happy times are great, but happy times pass- they have to- because time passes. The pursuit of happiness is more elusive; it is life-long, and it is not goal-centred. What you are pursuing is meaning- a meaningful life... There are times when it will go so wrong that you will be barely alive, and times when you realise that being barely alive, on your own terms, is better than living a bloated half-life on someone else's terms.

Know thyself,’ said Socrates. Know thyself,’ said Sappho, ‘and make sure that the Church never finds out.

There are times when it will go so wrong that you will barely be alive, and times when you realise that being barely alive, on your own terms, is better than living a bloated half-life on someone else's terms.

Language always betrays us, tells the truth when we want to lie, and dissolves into formlessness when we would most like to be precise.

We shall all die, and our lives will be irrelevant then.

Although wherever you are going is always in front of you, there is no such thing as straight ahead.

My books always begin with a sentence and an image - not necessarily connected.