Natural beauty is essentially temporary and sad, hence the impression of obscene mockery which artificial flowers give us.

There was clearly great charm and worth in a sport so quaintly perverse in its basic instructions. Hit down to make the ball rise. Swing easy to make it go far. Finish high to make it go straight.

By the time a partnership dissolves, it has dissolved.

Perfectionism is the enemy of creation, as extreme self- solitude is the enemy of well- being.

An old essay by John Updike begins, 'We live in an era of gratuitous inventions and negative improvements.' That language is general and abstract, near the top of the ladder. It provokes our thinking, but what concrete evidence leads Updike to his conclusion ? The answer is in his second sentence : 'Consider the beer can.' To be even more specific, Updike was complaining that the invention of the pop-top ruined the aesthetic experience of drinking beer. 'Pop-top' and 'beer' are at the bottom of the ladder, 'aesthetic experience' at the top.

Religion enables us to ignore nothingness and get on with the jobs of life.

We take our bearings, daily, from others. To be sane is, to a great extent, to be sociable.