Mark Twain was very unhappy with himself for various reasons. He was very unhappy with America of this time. He thought it was terrible we had no anti-lynching laws, and he was also a feminist, and he was also very concerned with anti-Semitism. He was a good man, but he was hard on himself.

I was trying not to be happy, hopeful. I did not believe I deserved happiness or even hope, if you knew my soul.

Exotic: meaning you're "desired." For madness is seductive, sexy. Female madness. So long as the female is reasonably young and attractive.

I love insult, it's always honest.

None of the rest of my life figures here.

She examined me, she looked at me critically and said, "Why are you trying to starve yourself?" To keep myself from feeling love, from feeling lust, from feeling anything at all.

Our house is made of glass... and our lives are made of glass; and there is nothing we can do to protect ourselves.