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.

Academics love to make theories about a body of work, but each book consumes the writer and is the sum of his or her world.

Don't regret your life, child, it will pass soon enough.

You have to engage with people who are different from you and try to work with their thinking and their mind. That's a real challenge.

Art saved me; it got me through my depression and self-loathing, back to a place of innocence.

I don't own my emotions unless I can think about them. I am not afraid of feeling but I am afraid of feeling unthinkingly. I don't want to drown. My head is my heart's lifebelt.

unhappy families are conspiracies of silence. The one who breaks the silence is never forgiven.