Studying anthropology, I developed a kind of holistic view of human existence, in which the dichotomies you listed are all necessary and vital aspects of life.

To be alive was to be disappointed. You tried and failed and kept on trying, never knowing whether you'd ever get what you wanted. But sometimes we get what we need.

Real power is control. Knowing that you can do anything...and not doing it only because you can.

A clear conscience is generally the result of a faulty memory, not a faulty life.

In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is stoned to death.

Humans may be the only creatures on Earth who spend significant time thinking about the fact that someday their lives will end.

All [people] are intolerant.... Only they're intolerant of different things.